Agartala, Feb. 14: Militants of the National Liberation Front of Tripura yesterday shot dead a senior leader of Gana Mukti Parishad, the CPM tribal front, in Dhalai district.

Quoting delayed reports, police sources said NLFT militants stormed the residence of local CPM tribal leader Ashwini Chakma in Bijay Karbaripara village under Chhawmanu police station at 1 pm.

They dragged him out of his home and shot him dead from point blank range in front of his family members. Chakma had played a vital role in the community’s decision to oppose NLFT rebels and their political front, the INPT.

The non-tribal villages of Emra Pasha under Fatikroy Assembly constituency of North Tripura continued to be tense over the abduction of the 11 members of a folk theatre group by NLFT militants on February 2.

Increased movement of NLFT militants has also been reported from all three tribal reserve Assembly constituencies of Khowai subdivision.

Sikdar claim

Senior BJP leader and Union minister Tapan Sikdar today claimed that theBJP would open its account in the Tripura Assembly elections, scheduled for February 26.

“We are contesting 20 seats, leaving 40 others to our alliance partners. Rest assured, we will enter the Assembly this time,” he said in a meet-the-press programme organised by the Tripura Working Journalists Association at the Agartala Press Club.