Tripura CM Biplab Deb said Amit Shah spoke of plans for BJP expansion to Nepal and Sri Lanka (File)
Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Deb has run into another controversy over his remarks on politics and policy, and this time it is international politics.
At a BJP event in state capital Agartala, Biplab Deb said the party has plans not only to expand across the country but in neighbouring nations as well.
Biplab Deb said Home Minister Amit Shah has plans to set up BJP governments in Nepal and Sri Lanka.
During a pep talk with the party workers, the Chief Minister shared a conversation he said he had while preparing for the Tripura assembly election in 2018. The BJP defeated the Left Front government in the state eventually.
Biplab Deb said Amit Shah, who was then BJP chief, during a meeting spoke about "overseas" expansion after winning in all the states in India.
"We were talking in the state guesthouse when Ajay Jamwal (northeast zonal secretary of BJP) said that BJP formed its government in several states. In reply, Amit Shah said that now Sri Lanka and Nepal are left. 'We have to expand the party in Sri Lanka, Nepal and win there to form a government'," Biplab Deb said of the conversation he claimed they had then. It's not yet clear if these remarks were made in jest; there was no official reaction from the party till the time report was filed.
The Chief Minister also said West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress will be defeated in the state election to be held soon.
Biplab Deb praised Mr Shah's leadership for making the BJP the "world's largest party". The Chief Minister said the BJP will change the trend of change of government between the Left and the Congress every five years in Kerala and emerge as the winner in the southern state as well.
Biplab Deb has often been caught on the wrong foot in the past. His comments in April 2018 that internet and satellite communication existed in the days of the Mahabharata were shared widely on social media.
"The Europeans and the Americans may claim that it is theirs, but it is actually our technology," Biplab Deb had said.