Agartala: Supporters of both the parties clashed with each other on Saturday during a Congress programme organised at Kamar Pukur Par area in the city to welcome former minister in the Biplab Deb cabinet Sudip Roy Barman, who recently shifted to Congress. Barman purportedly sustained injuries during the clashes.
State Congress president Birajit Sinha said the alleged attack was indicative that opposition political parties were not allowed to hold programmes in Tripura and that people would not accept such incidents.
Accusing the police of inaction, Roy Barman later said, “They have no right to wear this uniform. They should wear bangles and jewellery instead”.
State Congress president Birajit Sinha said the alleged attack was indicative that opposition political parties were not allowed to hold programmes in Tripura and that people would not accept such incidents.
Later in the day, clashes erupted at a local BJP office too and it was allegedly damaged in the process.
BJP spokesperson Nabendu Bhattacharya said: “Our mandal office was attacked, many of our supporters sustained assaults. It is still unclear how many of us have been injured as many are still being taken to hospitals.”
“This incident was a case of factional feud within Congress ranks. They later tried to turn it around and blame the BJP for this”, Bhattacharya said.
Both BJP and Congress activists organised rallies protesting the incident and demanded action against the culprits.
Senior officials of the state police said no complaint was received from either side but an investigation is being done to find out how the clashes erupted and who were involved in it.
“We shall take action against anyone found responsible behind this illegal activity. We have received no complaint yet. We shall deploy sufficient security personnel throughout the night to ensure no untoward incidents occur. We are also investigating how the incident started”, an official, who didn’t wish to be named, said.
In a late evening order, Sadar sub-divisional magistrate Binoy Bhushan Dad said prohibitory restrictions were placed based on a police report regarding prevalence of high tension and apprehension of breach of peace at few places in Agartala.
