By IANS
Agartala : With Tripura going to the polls in February, the ruling Left Front has named its candidates to all 60 seats in the state legislature.
Tripura will go to the polls with two other northeastern states – Meghalaya and Nagaland. Of the 60 Left Front candidates, 15 are new faces. There are five women candidates.
“We have dropped four sitting MLAs including a minister this time on health grounds and organisational affairs,” Khagen Das, Tripura Left Front convenor, said here Wednesday evening.
“Doctors, bureaucrat, teachers, lawyers, workers, women leaders, youth leaders, tribal leaders and social workers have been included in the list.
“Left Front will come to the power for sixth times in the ensuing polls as the government has done many developmental works and launched schemes for the well being of people in the state,” CPI-M state secretary Baidyanath Majumder said.
The CPI-M (Communist Party of India – Marxist) is the leading member of the Left Front.
But there are some disputes with Left Front partner Forward Bloc over allocation of tickets.
The Forward Bloc has been demanding three tickets, but the CPI-M has given it only one.
“We have already held two meetings with the Forward Bloc to solve the impasse but could not make any headway,” Das, also a member of Lok Sabha, said.
“The door for discussion with the Forward Bloc is still open and we hope the problem will be sorted out soon,” he added.
Meanwhile, the state’s main opposition Congress party remains a house divided over the continuance of state unit president Samir Ranjan Burman.
“We have got indication that the Congress high command will change the state party chief very soon,” said Tapas Dey, senior Congress leader.
“Burman’s negative image will damage the party’s prospects in the coming polls,” Dey told journalists.
Burman, however, denied such claims.
“There are no differences and we will surely defeat the Left Front in the upcoming polls,” the state Congress president said.