Tripura Congress threatens to take action against its dissidents

Agartala, Feb 11 (UNI) The Tripura Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) has warned of action against rebel candidates and leaders for their alleged anti-party activities ahead of the Assembly elections on February 23.

TPCC president Samir Ranjan Barman said here today that the party was facing serious trouble following internal strife which could harm its prospects in the elections.

''The AICC has taken the matter seriously and we are also trying to track down the persons responsible for damaging the party prospects in the election,'' Mr Barman said, adding that the decision with regard to disciplinary action against the dissidents would be taken by the appropriate authorities soon.

The Congress has fielded candidates in 49 seats while the rest 11 in the 60-member Assembly were allotted to its ally INPT.

Meanwhile, in the Ramchandraghat and Pramodenagar seats, the NCT and INPT aspirants were pitted against each other.

At the same time, in Kurti constituency, dissident Congress candidate Abdul Matin Choudhury remained in the fray as an Independent with the official party nominee Nurul Haque.

In Sabroom, another rebel Congress aspirant Premtosh Debnath would contest as the Party for Democratic Socialism (PDS) candidate.

However, the Congress bid to put up a direct fight against the ruling Left Front in all the seats had virtually fallen through as after the withdrawal of nominations, a triangular contest was on the cards in at least four constituencies.

''It is the INPT that played spoilsport in a broad-based anti-Left platform in these constituencies. It is because of their objections that even in one seat, the Congress could not tie up with us,'' NCT MLA Animesh Debbarma rued.

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