Agartala, March 31: The Tripura PCC has called a daylong statewide general strike on April 18 to demand a CBI inquiry into the killing of former health minister Bimal Sinha on March 31, 1998, by NLFT militants.

Announcing the strike, PCC president Birajit Sinha said his party had called for a CBI inquiry into the assassination way back in 1998 but the Left Front had constituted a judicial inquiry headed by Justice (retired) M.A. Yusuf to probe the case.

"The state government sat over the report for 16 years, as the commission submitted its report in January 2000. The report was tabled in the Assembly on March 22 this year, only after a high court order. The government and senior CPM leaders stand indicted by the report. Hence, a CBI inquiry is a must to unearth the truth," said Sinha.

He said the Yusuf Commission report clearly stated that the victim had clandestine links with the banned outfit and after his assassination, the entire issue was hushed up by the government.

"No one has been punished and the government tried to withdraw charges against three leading NLFT militants - Kamini Debbarma, Dharmacharan Jamatya and Vishnu Prasad Jamatya - who are now safe and sound. The remaining 24 accused secured an acquittal from the high court," alleged the PCC president.

The CPM reacted sharply to the strike call issued by Congress and to the "wild allegations" made by the PCC president.

"The people of the state know who had links with the banned militants. The Congress had unseated the CPM from power in collusion with the erstwhile Tripura National Volunteers (TNV) militants who had killed 102 people in the week ahead of the Assembly polls on February 2, 1988," said Gautam Das, CPM spokesperson and central committee member.

He described the allegations made by the PCC president as "totally baseless and wild".

"The Yusuf Commission report has nowhere mentioned that CPM leaders had any link with the banned militants. Bimal Sinha had gone to meet the NLFT militants to secure the release of his abducted younger brother and had been treacherously killed," said the CPM spokesperson.

He firmly opposed the Congress strike call on April 18 and said the people of the state would "see through the evil designs of the Congress" and reject the call.