Four assembly constituencies of Tripura are going to bye-polls on June 23.
On Saturday evening, Tripura Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha accused the Trinamool Congress of turning West Bengal into a "mini-Pakistan". He was addressing a by-poll campaign gathering in the state.
Four assembly constituencies of Tripura are going to by-polls on June 23; Trinamool is contesting all four seats against the ruling BJP. Dr Saha - a member of the Rajya Sabha, who last month replaced Biplab Deb as Tripura Chief Minister, is a BJP candidate from the Town Bordowali seat. Dr Saha's accusations come at a time when parts of West Bengal have seen violence during protests against now suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma's remarks on Prophet Muhammad.
"The way the left had done this in West Bengal, now they (Trinamool) are doing it 3-4 folds more. This is making the people of West Bengal unhappy. They have formed a government there with a margin of just 50 lakh votes. It was because of the efforts of Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee that West Bengal did not go into the hands of Pakistan and became part of India but now you see they are turning it into mini Pakistan...it is scary..they have killed 100 BJP karyakartas (workers)," Dr Saha said.
Amid the high-stake by-poll battle in Tripura, Dr Saha also refuted the opposition charge that he is a 'stop-gap' chief minister and said he would be the face of the party in the 2023 assembly polls.
"Keep faith in PM Modi and BJP president JP Nadda, I have not been made the CM for 3, 4 or 7 months. For the 2023 assembly polls, the party will fight with me as the frontrunner. When I went to see PM Modi for the first time after becoming CM, he had asked me if I was sleeping well...I told him that first, the party made me state president, I did not ask for it, then I was made Rajya sabha member, again I did not ask for it and now CM, which I never asked for..so I actually had a sound sleep," Dr Saha had said in another by-poll campaign meeting yesterday.