Factional feuds continue to dog Tripura Congress

AGARTALA: Even as the CPM in Tripura is going whole hog in a rectification drive and stresses on introspection following recent poll debacles in West Bengal and Kerala, the opposition Congress continues to be dogged by factional fights and mudslinging.
The full committee of the Pradesh Congress Committee, headed by president Surajit Datta, met on Thursday to review and chalk out a seven-month movement against the ruling Left Front.However, the meeting witnessed a sharp division among the top echelon of the Congress as a group opposed to Datta and loyal to former chief minister Samir Ranjan Barman stayed away. The Barman group was resenting non-inclusion of some of their leaders in the full committee of the PCC.
The meeting had assumed significance as it sought to chalk out a series of agitations starting from June 12. The first phase of the agitations will, according to the PCC, culminate in the run-up to the assembly elections in the northeastern state slated for 2013. The meeting was also attended by AICC's assistant observer for Tripura Jay Kumar.
"Of the 87 PCC members, 57 attended the meeting. In fact, barring members owing allegiance to Samir Ranjan Barman, all other leaders or their close associates were present in the meeting. They pledged support to the PCC president," said Tapas Dey, a PCC member. Along With Barman, his son, Sudip Roy Barman, Asish Saha and Biswabandhu Sen (all MLAs) skipped the meeting.
"Opposition leader Ratan Lal Nath and former PCC chief Gopal Roy are at present out of station. But members believed to be their close attended the meeting," Dey said.
The AICC observer is reported to have taken strong exception to the way the Barman faction is indulging in factional feuds. "The Congress in Tripura must fight unitedly to oust the Left Front from power," he told the party leaders. "Absence in the meeting or for that matter or non-cooperation from some leaders - who are by any means minority- would not affect our programme," the PCC president said.
One confidante of Datta said due to the Barman group, some prominent personalities who had always been known as Congress supporters could not be included in the PCC. "We wanted at least one eminent doctor and a retired bureaucrat in the PCC. But we could not find them in the committee due to the Barman lobby," he added.
In the meantime, chief Minister and CPM politburo member Manik Sarkar asked the party leaders and cadres to introspect and rectify. Addressing a condolence meeting held in memory of veteran CPM leader Baidyanath Majumdar, he said, "Something might have gone terribly wrong. Otherwise why despite pro-people policies Left Front in West Bengal was ousted?"