ON March 12, Left Front announced the names of candidates for the two Lok Sabha seats of Tripura. Shankar Prasad Datta, sitting MP, member of CPI(M) state committee and general secretary of CITU Tripura state committee, will again contest from Tripura  West Constituency,  while Jitendra Choudhury,  CPI(M) central committee member and chief whip of CPI(M) in Lok Sabha will contest again from the East Tripura (ST) reserved seat. Convener of  Tripura Left Front committee Bijan Dhar declared the names of the candidates in a  press conference today after the names were unanimously adopted in the meeting of the Left Front.  Flanked by CPI(M) state secretary Gautam Das, CPI Leader Milan Baidya, AIFB leader Paresh Sarkar and  RSP leader Dipak Deb, Bijan Dhar said, the last  five years of Modi government is marked by all out attack on the life and livelihood of   people,  attacks on dalits, minorities, and an overall assault on the basic tenets of the constitution.

This period is also marked by unprecedented corruption and highest rate of unemployment in the country. This government should not come back to power.  The Left shall be fighting this election with three clear objectives of (i) Defeating this Modi government at the centre,  (ii) Increasing the strength of the CPI(M) and the Left in the  parliament and (iii) Ensuring formation  of an alternative, secular government at the centre. 

In Tripura people have experience of one year of BJP rule. People are realising the mistakes of electing BJP. To defeat BJP and help formation and smooth functioning of an alternative, secular government in the right direction it is imperative that the strength of the Left in parliament is increased.  For this and to strengthen the struggle for restoration of democracy in Tripura we appeal to all the secular, democratic, peace loving and democratic minded people to ensure huge victory of CPI(M) candidates in both the seats of the state, the state secretary exhorted.