Ram Madhav, 53, and Chief Minister-elect Biplab Kumar Deb, 48, had just made a rare visit to the CPM party office that is going to be Mr Sarkar's home to invite him to Mr Deb's swearing in ceremony in state capital Agartala on Friday.
Left Front leaders had announced their plan to boycott the ceremony to protest what they had alleged were systematic attacks on their cadres and party offices across the state. The two BJP leaders wanted Chief Minister Sarkar to be present at the change of guard.
As he walked out of the CPM office, Ram Madhav told reporters that Mr Sarkar had accepted their invite. The praise came soon after, in a tweet.
"True to his character he (Manik Sarkar) has shifted to the party office immediately after resigning as Chief Minister post the election. Something for leaders to emulate," Ram Madhav, who had led a bitter election campaign against the 69-year-old leader accusing him of running a "corrupt and violent", said.
Chief Minister Manik Sarkar had been the BJP's solo target for an alleged job scam, unemployment and blurred lines between the party and government. In the end, it couldn't counter the massive campaign unleashed by the BJP that flew in its top leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
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As the votes were counted last week, the BJP, which had launched a shrill campaign to seek "poriborton" (change), got 35 seats and a 43 per cent vote share. It had won no seat in 2013.Mr Sarkar later told NDTV that the party had been caught off-guard. "We were not prepared for such a result," he said. The CPM has accused the BJP of "massive deployment of money and other resources to influence the elections".
