Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the BJP party workers meet in Guwahati on Sunday. (PTI Photo)

Tripura chief minister Manik Sarkar leads the sole surviving Marxist regime in the country. (PTI Photo)

AGARTALA: In a rare instance of bipartisanship, Tripura chief minister Manik Sarkar , who leads the sole surviving Marxist regime in the country, has invited PM Narendra Modi to address the state cabinet on his favoured theme of good governance.The meeting is going to be the first of its kind. In the backdrop of intense political bitterness in Centre-state relationships, it is being seen as a harbinger of a new trend. Ever since becoming Prime Minister, Modi has made it clear that there is no place for politics when it came to working with the states for development.Modi is coming here to switch on the second unit of the 726 mw power plant constructed by ONGC-Tripura Power Company Ltd at Palatana, some 70km from the state capital. Sources in the know said the PM is expected to meet members of Sarkar's Cabinet after the inaugural function.The invitation from Sarkar, who has been CM of Tripura since 1998, also stands out since the chief minister had earlier this month wrote to the PM expressing apprehension that changes in the structure of the rural employment scheme — MGNREGA — would reduce the money allotted for his state.Sarkar, a Left stalwart who is serving his fourth term, had maintained that the proposed changes would make “the people from rural areas, particularly of Schedule Tribes, Schedule Castes and minority community losers”.The Tripura CM, a politburo member of the CPM, had called on Modi in New Delhi in August when he was in town for his party’s central committee meeting. He had described the interaction as a courtesy call and had said that he would the PM again after some time to discuss matters related to Tripura.Sarkar was hailed for steering the CPM to a hugely impressive win in the 2013 state elections, bagging 50 of the assembly's 60 seats and over 50% vote share even as the Left was being ousted from its strongholds of West Bengal and Kerala. Routinely touted as the poorest chief minister in India, Sarkar, in his affidavit to the Election Commission before the last polls, had declared Rs 1,080 in cash and Rs 9,720 in bank balance.Known as a simple man and good administrator, Sarkar is credited with improving Tripura’s social indices to a point where it rivals the best in the country. He is also credited with taming the festering, decades-old militancy in the state. With his invite to Modi, Sarkar has indicated that he would not let ideology come in the way of better relations with the Centre. At another level, the prime minister's visit to Tripura also marks an extension of his push for sub-regional economic corridor with eastern neighbours — Bangladesh and Myanmar — that could lead right up to China.This is evident from the fact that a five-member delegation from Bangladesh is scheduled to attend the power plant's inaugural function. The delegation is being headed by Bangladeshi PM Sheikh Hasina's energy advisor Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury. He is accompanied by Bangladesh's minister of state for power, energy and mineral resources Nasrul Hamid and two senior officials.Bangladesh already buys power from the Indian grid through a transmission link running between West Bengal. It has also evinced interest in buying power from the Palatana plant. India's largest generation utility NTPC is also setting up a power station in that country.In a symbolic gesture, the Bangladesh delegation travelled to Agartala by road and was received at the Akhaura checkpost on the city's outskirts by state power and urban development minister Manik Dey. Akhaura is the second biggest trading post along the 4,096-km long India-Bangladesh border after the Benapole-Petrapole border crossing in West Bengal.Sarkar's government has been urging the Centre for engaging with Bangladesh for better and wider surface transport connectivity — both rail and road links — and transit rights through that country. Bangladesh had allowed movement of heavy power equipment through its territory during the Palatana plant's construction.