Left Front Would Win 2018 Tripura Assembly Elections: Sitaram Yechury

Agartala: CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Sunday claimed that the Left Front would win the Tripura Assembly polls, due in early 2018, and the north- eastern state would be able to stop the BJP's winning streak.

"Seeing such a mammoth gathering and jubilation of people, I am certain the eighth Left Front government would be formed in Tripura after the polls," Yechury told a Left Front rally in Agartala.

Alleging that the BJP won the Gujarat polls by "dividing" people and formed the government in Manipur and Goa by "resorting to unlawful means", he hoped that Tripura would be able to stop the saffron partys election winning streak.

The BJP fought intensely with the Congress party in Gujarat, winning it for the sixth straight time. It also wrested power from the Congress in Himachal Pradesh.

In Goa and Manipur, which voted in hung assemblies, the BJP came from behind to form the government in the two states.

"If Lav and Kush in the Ramayana could stop the horse of victory of Rama, the Left Front can stop the victory trail of (Narendra) Modi in Tripura," Yechury said.

"The sun rises in Tripura before Delhi and the rays of the sun falls in Tripura first. The Left Front would form the government and show an orientation of alternative," he said.

The CPI(M) general secretary alleged that the BJP was a party which "indulges in communalism" and rules the country by "dividing people".

It was trying to forge an alliance with "communal forces" like the Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT) and the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura, he claimed.

Claiming that the BJP has taken the country backwards, he said it "gave us many promises, but did not implement them."

"It is a government of jumla or empty promises and people now do not believe in their promises," Yechury said.

Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, too, alleged that the BJP was trying to forge an alliance with the IPFT, which, he said, was a "mask" of the underground insurgents who intend to "disrupt peace and tranquillity" in the northeastern state.

"We have to resist the conspiracy of breaking peace and disrupt communal harmony in the state because peace is the first precondition for development.

"Despite many hurdles, we will try to form a government of alternative principle and alternative development model," Sarkar said.