Agartala, April 10: The AICC general secretary in-charge of Tripura, V. Narayanaswamy, last night issued a showcause notice to former leader of the Opposition Sudip Roy Barman asking him to explain his criticism of the party high command.
Barman had lashed out at the Congress high command for its policies, its negligence of Tripura in wake of the debacle in the Amarpur byelection and in the statewide civic polls and its efforts to reach an understanding with the CPM for the Bengal Assembly polls.
He had followed this up by allegedly contacting senior Trinamul Congress leaders in Bengal in order to join the party. His close confidantes, Youth Congress president Sushanta Chowdhury and former NSUI president Vicky Prasad, had gone to Calcutta to meet the Trinamul leadership, who insisted that if they wanted to join the party, they must do so before the Bengal Assembly polls and campaign for its candidates.
Subsequently, Barman had resigned as leader of the Opposition on Thursday and written a letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi questioning the wisdom of forging an alliance with the CPM in Bengal.
The next day, Barman's associates - PCC working president and MLA Asish Saha and Chowdhury - resigned from their posts.
"I have not yet received the letter. I have, however, been told that my statement after the debacle in the Amarpur byelection has been questioned. Imagine how the high command works: I have already resigned as leader of the Opposition but the letter asks me to resign," Barman said today.
Sources said Barman, along with Saha and Chowdhury, might go to Bengal to campaign for Trinamul candidates and expose the "mischievous activities" of the CPM in Tripura.
"They will also focus on how the Congress high command has repeatedly been slack in Tripura to keep an understanding with the CPM at the national level. They will also expose how the high command betrayed the Tripura unit before the 2013 Assembly polls," a source said.
On the other hand, 60 CPM supporters from Bharat Chandra Nagar under Belonia sub-division in South Tripura have joined the BJP.
