Pradyot Debbarman quits as Tripura Cong chief over NRC, 'Compromises'

Agartala: President of the Tripura Pradesh Congress Committee, Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarman, has resigned from all party posts over his plea for implementation of NRC in the state and refusing to "compromise" with other Congress leaders.

Debbarman said the central leadership had requested him not to make his resignation public before the by-elections to Badharghat constituency, which was held on Monday.

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"I have resigned from all posts of the Congress a few days ago. The party high command had asked me to compromise with a section of state leaders, but I told them it was not possible.

"Then they asked me to withdraw the litigation that I have filed for the introduction of NRC (National Register of Citizens) in Tripura, but I did not agree to it, too," Debbarman told media over the phone from Delhi.

He added that though he had resigned, "I am still with the party at heart".

Debbarman said he was also unhappy over the central leadership's plan to appoint Subal Bhowmick as the executive president of the Tripura PCC.

Bhowmick, a former Congress MLA, had joined the BJP before the Assembly elections on February 18 as the saffron party's state vice-president but returned to his former party before the Lok Sabha polls.

"A BJP MLA, who was a former Congress member, is now running the Congress in the state. It is he who wants to appoint Subal Bhowmick as the executive president of the Tripura PCC," a source close to Debbarman later said, quoting him.

Debbarman, the grandson of Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya who had ruled the princely state of Tripura, was appointed as the Tripura PCC president on February 25 this year.

Earlier in the day, in a Facebook post, Debbarman wrote: "Woke up today after a long time feeling relaxed. I start this day without having to listen to criminals and liars....not having to listen to 'High Command' on how to accommodate corrupt people in high positions...

"I realised how my health and my life was being affected because I was not ready to allow wrong elements to get into posts which would destroy our state.

"I tried and perhaps lost but then how could I win when I was alone in this fight from the beginning? The Bubagra (king) in me is more powerful than any political post," he added.

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(PTI)