Agartala, Aug. 23: Tripura chief minister Manik Sarkar has joined issue with Union minister of state for home Swami Chinmayanand, refuting the latter’s allegations point by point.

Sarkar also announced that he would take up the matter with Union home minister and deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani. “When I visit New Delhi next time, I will definitely apprise him of the situation,” Sarkar said.

A delegation of Union ministers C.P. Thakur, Tapan Sikdar and Swami Chinmayanand yesterday visited the strife-torn areas of Kamalnagar and Krishnapur in Khowai subdivision of West Tripura on a whistle-stop tour. They left the state at night after cancelling a scheduled meeting with the chief minister, who had been waiting for them.

Before departing for Calcutta en route to Delhi, Chinmayanand charged the state government with total failure in containing insurgency and questioned its political will and mode of utilisation of security forces.

An agitated chief minister called a press conference this evening to give his reactions to the “unrestrained statements” by Chinmayanand, which, he claimed, would encourage “anti-national forces”.

Sarkar accepted the figures provided by Chinmayanand regarding the number of forces deployed in Tripura but asserted that only three companies of paramilitary forces were being utilised in spheres other than counter-insurgency operations.

“One company is deployed at the Raj Bhavan for the governor’s security, one more company has been allocated for leaders of the Opposition following a court order and another company is present at the Dumbur hydroelectric project,” he said.

Sarkar asserted that according to the assessment by the former inspector-general of the CRPF, 90 companies were required for effective counter-insurgency operations and the present strength of 66 companies were not sufficient for the purpose.

Regarding the withdrawal of the army from one of the affected areas, the chief minister said the defence ministry had unilaterally withdrawn jawans under the Dogra regiment from Krishnapur area and the state government had nothing to do with it.

Sarkar also rebutted the Union minister’s charges on utilisation of fund for modernisation of state police. Chinamayanand had charged the state government with failure to furnish utilisation certificates.

The chief minister described Chinmayanand’s allegations as “incorrect and politically motivated”, asserting that the state government was fully committed to curbing the menace of insurgency.

He also questioned Chinmayanand’s complacency with regard to the situation in Kashmir, saying, “violence also occurred in Kashmir on Independence Day but I would not equate Tripura with Kashmir”.

Replying to a question on border fencing, he said work was now going on over a stretch of 23 km.