Discontent among left partners in Tripura

Agartala, May 23: Discontent among the left partners in Tripura has intensified following differences over functioning of village Panchayats, while the left ally RSP raised voice over CPM's supremacy in the front.

According to RSP members, the direct political control and intervention by CPM has allegedly been hampering the functioning of the rural bodies and corruption in the panchayats has assumed alarming proportions.

Senior RSP leader and state Food Minister Gopal Das yesterday termed the CPM's ''proxy rule in the panchayats'' as the ''epicentre of corruption''.

Challenging the legal validity of the party controlling an elected body, Mr Das asked how the party-men can influence the democratic set-up at the village level and stated that the party-men were responsible for corruption in panchayats.

CPM's central committee member Bijan Dhar, however, condemned Mr Das's statement and termed it as 'of no consequence', over 95 per cent panchayats were controlled by the CPM and that there was no conflict between the party units and elected members.

UNI