Agartala, Aug 7: AICC secretary Szarita Laitphlang on Sunday urged party leaders and workers to gear up to face a ‘challenging’ battle for installing Congress Government in Tripura in 2023.
Addressing a programme outside Congress Bhavan here, she said that party members will not buckle under any pressure or threat that might come their way.
“This time, the struggle will be different… Party leaders and workers may have to face threats, intimidations, attacks and false cases. We shall not buckle under pressure as we fight to unseat the current dispensation,” the Tripura minder of the Congress said.
Over 2,500 workers of the ruling BJP and the Trinamool Congress, including TMC’s state general secretary Baptu Chakraborty (TMC), joined the Congress on the occasion.
Former State Congress president Gopal Roy, MLA Sudip Roy Barman and Tripura Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) media in-charge Asish Saha were among those present at the event.
Assuring that the party’s top leadership will stand by the members and supporters at every step of the decisive battle, the AICC secretary pointed out Congress leaders have already endured harassment in many places as they tried raising issues related to the people’s miseries.
“The Union Government had been looting people under the garb of Goods and Service Tax (GST). The Government is silent on issues like price rise and unemployment,” she said.
Roy Barman claimed that the “ruling BJP will come crashing down like a house of cards within the next two or three months” in the State.
“Many State-level BJP leaders are in touch with the Congress. We will welcome leaders not only from the ruling party but from other outfits, too,” he said.
In a veiled dig at the TMC, the Congress MLA said there is another party that that has a covert understanding with the BJP.
Without taking any name, he said, “People understand well the intention behind that sudden meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the decision to abstain from voting in the Vice-Presidential election.”
TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee recently met PM Modi in Delhi. Her party had earlier announced that it would not take part in the Vice-Presidential polls.
Roy Barman said the TMC “was not an issue for the Congress as the party will be reduced to a sign-board” in this northeastern State. (PTI)
