While BJP won 14 of the 16 mayoral posts, Aligarh was one of the two seats where the party lost. (Representational Image) While BJP won 14 of the 16 mayoral posts, Aligarh was one of the two seats where the party lost. (Representational Image)

Sunil Deb, a booth-level BJP worker, was killed in Kanchanpur in poll-bound Tripura on two days ago, with the BJP pointing the finger at the ruling Left Front and alleging that as many as five of its workers have been murdered in recent months in the state. Kanchanpur in North Tripura is about 170 km from Agartala, the state capital.

“Sunil Deb, a BJP karyakarta, was murdered in the most barbaric way late Friday night. Sunil Deb had only recently left the ruling CPI(M) and joined the BJP. His body was found in a drain with several wounds in the Kanchanpur market in North Tripura. Sunil was on his way home from a meeting with BJP karyakartas when he was accosted on the way and killed,” BJP’s Tripura state in-charge and National executive member Sunil Deodhar said.

Deodhar said that while Tripura was heading for the assembly elections in February 2018, the BJP was emerging as the biggest challenger to the 25-year-old CPI(M) regime. “Thousands of CPI(M) supporters have come under the BJP fold in the last couple of years, and the the ruling party has been irritated by the increasing support for the BJP,” Deodhar said.

“CPI(M) cadres have been regularly threatening or assaulting BJP workers and supporters in different parts of the state. The law and order situation in Tripura has gone from bad to worse, but chief minister Manik Sarkar, who also holds the Home portfolio, has chosen to remain mum. Sunil Deb is the fifth BJP supporter in Tripura who has succumbed to attacks by the CPI(M),” Deodhar said.

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