Tripura chief minister Manik Sarkar files nomination paper from Dhanpur

AGARTALA: Chief minister Manik Sarkar fighting his toughest electoral battle against a resurgent BJP for a fifth straight term filed his nomination paper from Dhanpur constituency on Monday amid a riot of red colour.

Sarkar faces a strong anti-incumbency wave created by the BJP as he sets up a straight fight with a woman rival, Pratima Bhowmik, at Dhanpur. Bhowmick had gone down to Sarkar twice in the past assembly elections, in 1998 and 2003 at a distant third.

Dhanpur, a small semi-urban centre situated about 65 km west of capital Agartala is the nerve centre of the Dhanpur constituency bordering Bangladesh in Sipajhala district. Sarkar has been winning this seat since 1998, when he became the chief minister for the first time.

Sarkar, who is known country wide as the poorest chief minister, is now at the receiving end of a brutal political attack from the BJP, which blames for an estimated Rs 35,000 crore chit fund scam by Rose Valley that took place under his government.

Thousands of CPM workers welcomed Sarkar this morning as he arrived at Sonamura, the sub-divisional headquarters of Sipajhala district for filing his nomination papers. All roads leading to the sub-divsional officer's office were drowned in red—from flags to banners to caps and t-shirts worn by the party workers.

While BJP's slogan is "chalo paltai (let's change), the ruling CPM counter is "Lets build the 8th Left Front govermment". CPM had governed the state for two terms from 1978 to 1988 and again from 1993 so far for five terms.

The election to the 60-member assembly is scheduled to be held on February 18 and the Left Front, comprising the CPM, the CPI, RCPI and the FB are contesting in all the 60 seats. The BJP will contest 51 seats while its partner, the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura will contests from the remaining nine seats. The Congress, which has been almost wiped out of existence in the state, will contest 56 seats.