Tripura: CM-designate Deb visits CPI(M) office, invites Sarkar to swearing-in ceremony

In a rare gesture, Tripura BJP leader and would-be chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb visited CPI(M) state office on Thursday to invite ousted chief minister Manik Sarkar to Friday's swearing-in ceremony. Deb arrived at the CPI(M) office with a host of other BJP leaders, including Ram Madhav. 

"Invited Ex CM Sh. Manik Sarkar ji & CPM Tripura Secretary Bijan Dhar ji at CPM State Office in presence of @rammadhavbjp ji to swearing ceremony tomorrow," tweeted Deb, hours before Friday's swearing-in ceremony. 

The warm gesture comes amid political tensions fuelled by the northeast election results that triggered widespread statue demolitions across the country. Following the declaration of election results on March 3, sporadic clashes had erupted between Left Front and BJP supporters in Tripura. Reports and videos of two Lenin statues being razed down in the state fanned the fire. Similar attacks against statues of political ideologists soon spread across the country, including Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Kerala. 

A Left Front spokesperson informed that Sarkar and former ministers of his cabinet would attend the function of the new government. "The outgoing chief minister and his ministers would attend the swearing-in ceremony. Left parties have also been invited to join it. But we will not go there to protest against the post-poll violence," said Left Front convener Bijan Dhar.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and all the chief ministers of the BJP-ruled states have also been invited for the ceremony.

Deb's swearing in will officially usher in the BJP government in a state that has historically been a Left bastion. BJP and its ally Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) scripted history by winning 35 of the 59 seats that went to polls in Tripura, ousting the CPI(M) which won only in 17 assembly constituencies.

(With inputs from agencies)