Agartala, Dec 8 (PTI) Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha Thursday said the people of Gujarat have voted in large numbers for the BJP in the Gujarat Assembly poll because of good governance and speedy growth.

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He called upon the people to vote BJP back to power to continue with the development in Tripura and urged them not to return to the "old political culture of violence and murders".

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BJP, he said, will resist any force or violence aimed at capturing power in the state.

Elections to the Tripura Assembly are due to be held by March next year.

Saha, who was addressing a meeting of ruling BJP workers at Santir Bazar in South Tripura district, said, "The people of Gujarat have voted the BJP back to power in large numbers, because of the development work done by the party. People in Tripura should also do so."

He, however, did not comment on Himachal Pradesh where Congress wrested power from BJP.

The chief minister made a scathing attack on the Left which ruled for 35 years in the northeastern state. “CPI(M) was responsible violence, arson, murders and rapes in Tripura ... Therefore, the people of the state must distance themselves from the Communist party”.

"In a democracy everybody has their rights but any attempt to use force or indulge in forceful politics will be dealt with firmly", Saha said.

Saha hit out at the TMC too and alleged it has "turned Bengal into a mini Pakistan”.

"The people voted for TMC for a new beginning. But the present dispensation is worse than the previous government," he claimed.

He also termed the Congress as "indisciplined" and claimed that “earlier, CPI(M) used to maintain backdoor relations with the Congress to rule the state. But now it is in the open.”

CPI(M) state secretary Jitendra Chowdhury was seen sharing stage with Congress' lone MLA Sudip Roy Barman here on Wednesday.

Contacted for his comments on the chief minister's allegations, CPI(M) state committee member Pabitra Kar said “He (Saha) is an inexperienced politician and lacks knowledge of the state's political history."

He said, "We are observing that since becoming the chief minister he is raising baseless and irrelevant allegations against Communists. We strongly oppose his allegations against the CPI(M)-led Left Front that had brought all round development in Tripura”.

The LF was in power in the northeastern state from 1978 to 1988 and again from 1993 to 2018.

When asked TMC Tripura general secretary Pujan Biswas too objected strongly to Saha's allegation of turning West Bengal into "mini Pakistan".

“In West Bengal the people irrespective of their religions, can exercise their democratic rights which are missing in newly saffronised Tripura. BJP is a master in dividing people on religious grounds to gain political mileage," he said.

BJP came to power in 2018.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)