Agartala, May 4: The honeymoon between the ruling CPM and the newly-formed National Socialist Party of Tripura (NSPT) appears to be over with the Left Front government slashing the quantum of grants promised to the cash-strapped Autonomous District Council.

A source said the CPM was upset with the NSPT leadership for allegedly not co-operating with it during the Lok Sabha campaign.

Though NSPT president and former deputy Speaker Gaurishankar Reang and ADC chief executive member Hirendra Kumar Tripura shared the dais with chief minister Manik Sarkar at rallies in Shantir Bazar and Agartala, the ruling party is reportedly upset over its ally’s attitude.

“Leaders and grassroots-level activists of the NSPT in different parts of the state backed candidates of the National Democratic Alliance,” the source said. The Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura split in July last year and a group of seven leaders broke away to form the ADC with the CPM’s support. The parties were combining well till the countdown to the Lok Sabha poll began.

The first hint of a rift between the two parties came after polling on April 22. The finance department decided to slash the special grant of Rs 18 crore to the ADC by as much as Rs 6 crore, indicating something was amiss.

An ADC official said the chief minister had personally promised a special grant of Rs 18 crore. “Now that it has reduced the grant, the council is in a spot of bother.”

Compounding the woes of the ADC, the government has withheld Rs 77.11 lakh under the non-plan head. An NSPT team headed by the chief executive member of the council intends to complain about the shortage of funds directly to chief minister Manik Sarkar after his return from a tour of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.