After four terms as CM, Manik Sarkar will have to leave office after the BJP's sweeping 'miracle' win in Tripura.
Hugely respected, Manik Sarkar, despite serving four terms as the state's Chief Minister, is India's poorest CM.
The 69-year-old in his 2018 election affidavit for the Dhanpur Assembly seat listed the value of his total movable and immovable assets at a tad over Rs 43 lakh.
Most of the assets are the in the name of his wife Panchali Bhattacharya, a retired Central Government officer.
Their biggest asset at Rs 21-lakh odd - a 888.35 square feet house in Agartala, which is where he will now retire in all probability.
Sarkar hasn't filed a single IT return yet for the simple reason that he doesn't have the assets needed for a mandatory filing.
Till date, he hands over his salary as CM to the CPI (M) party and only takes the allowance he is given.
His movable assets as declared in his 2018 election affidavit:
A rarity indeed!
Former Outlook Editor Krishna Prasad was among those praising the Tripura CM's austerity.
Whether or not CPI(M) comes back in Tripura, a visitor to the Chief Minister’s office on December 6, 2017, would have noticed a hole in the ‘kurta’ pocket of Manik Sarkar. After four terms as CM, that is an admirable badge of honour. #TripuraElection2018 pic.twitter.com/CQHdjCJ3qS
— churumuri (@churumuri) March 3, 2018
But his Sarkar, ironically, failed to stem corruption.
As journalist Ruhi Tewari noted on twitter ahead of the election: "No jobs, slow development, corruption, 25 years in power make voters yearn for ‘poribartan’ (change) and veer towards Modi’s BJP in large numbers."
The unemployment rate was the highest in the country at was 19.7% and "top to bottom corruption" was institutionalised because CPM had five terms in power, she wrote in a report for The Print.
CPI (M) leader Subhashini Ali conceded to Ruhi that there could have been "more development and better job creation" but stressed that "despite this state’s financial constraints, so much has been done." It clearly did not prove enough as the results have shown.
