Agartala, April 8 (IANS): Tripura opposition leader Jitendra Choudhury said on Monday that the “BJP cheating people came to power in Tripura and for the past six years is befooling the ‘Aam Aadmi’ (common man)".

Addressing an election rally at Belonia in southern Tripura, CPI-M leader Choudhury quoted the reports of various international organisations and said that the unemployment ratio in India is the highest now since Independence.

He said that the BJP came to power in Tripura for the second time in March last year only due to the division of the opposition votes by the then opposition party Tipra Motha Party (TMP).

“Now cheating the lakhs of tribal people, the TMP joined the BJP government last month forgetting its so-called demands for the welfare of the tribals,” said Choudhury, who is also the CPI-M Tripura state secretary.

A former minister and Lok Sabha member, Choudhury said that the BJP should disclose why it ousted Biplab Kumar Deb from the post of Chief Minister in May 2022 and all of a sudden appointed Manik Saha as the CM.

Deb is the BJP candidate for the Tripura West Lok Sabha constituency against state Congress president Asish Kumar Saha, who is also the consensus nominee of the INDIA bloc.

Choudhury said that when Deb was the Chief Minister of Tripura a “reign of terror” devastated the lives of people and there was no rule of law during that time (2018-2022).

He added that the BJP in Tripura and across the country has been making false, manufactured and twisted propaganda about their governments which have no resemblance with the experience of the common people.

“This parliamentary election is not for making a government, it is a struggle to protect the Indian Constitution and democracy. The BJP after controlling all constitutional institutions is trying to capture the government once again though the majority of the people do not support them and strongly oppose their policies and decisions,” Choudhury stated.

Asish Kumar Saha while addressing the gathering said that the ‘BJP goons’ are not allowing people to participate in the INDIA bloc’s election rallies and political events.

“People of Tripura out of fear are not openly saying anything against the ruling BJP but they would en masse vote for the candidates of the INDIA bloc in the two Tripura Lok Sabha seats,” said Saha, a former MLA.

The Congress leader quoting many intellectuals, including Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s husband Parakala Prabhakar, said that the BJP would not cross even 200 seats in the parliamentary polls.

Former CPI-M MLA Rajendra Reang is fighting the Lok Sabha polls from the Tripura East constituency, reserved for the tribals. He is the consensus nominee of the INDIA bloc.