Tripura BJP demands Brinda Karat's arrest

The Tripura unit of the BJP today demanded the arrest of CPI(M) politburo member Brinda Karat and the Left party's state committee leader Haripada Das for allegedly implicating in a booklet that the Prime Minister's Office kept contact with terrorist groups of the northeastern state.

The CPI(M), however, rejected the allegations as "absurd and baseless".

A delegation of the BJP led by state party president Biplab Kumar Deb met Governor Tathagata Roy this evening and sought his intervention.

The booklet is an "evidence" that the CPI(M) resorted to "anti-national" steps to malign the PMO, Deb said at a press conference here, and demanded action against the author and the publisher of the booklet as per constitutional provisions.
 

He sought an immediate ban on the booklet and seizure of its copies.

"A campaign booklet published by Haripada Das on behalf of the CPI(M) state committee mentioned that there was direct contact of terrorist groups with the PMO. The words were included in the introduction section of the booklet, which was authored by politburo member Brinda Karat," Deb said.

There were several other instances in the booklet where "baseless and derogatory" allegations were levelled against the BJP, he alleged.

"They [the CPI(M) leaders] have written that the BJP and the RSS have played a criminal role in the country. The statement obliquely accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of being criminal," he alleged.

BJP MLA Ratan Lal Nath, who joined the party recently, challenged the CPI(M) to name the terrorist organisations that allegedly had links with the PMO or publicly seek apology from Modi and the party.

CPI(M) spokesperson Goutam Das said the booklet was published in October and was translated into Bengali. There were versions in Hindi, English and other languages.

"These allegations are absurd and baseless. We will not attach any importance to these issues," Das said.

Election to the 60-member Tripura Assembly is due early next year.