Congress appoints new Tripura party President, 5 Working Presidents

Agartala: Amidst the hectic political activities by all the major parties in Tripura, Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Friday appointed former Minister and seasoned politician Birajit Sinha as the party President in the northeastern state and chose five leaders as Working Presidents.

Surprisingly, the outgoing state party President Pijush Kanti Biswas, a lawyer, did not find any position in the new committee even as a former Chief Minister and former state Presidents were accommodated in the new body. Biswas, who on August 21 resigned and announced he was quitting politics "for the time being", withdrew his resignation the same day following the request of the party high command.

Sinha, 69, who was a Minister in the Congress led Tripura government (1988-1993), was appointed the state party President for a record third time as he had held the post earlier on two occasions (2000-2003 and 2010-2012). Sinha's appointment as the state party chief has been made at a time when many Congress leaders like Subal Bhowmik, Prakash Das (ex-Minister), Mujibar Islam Majumder, Md. Idrish Mia, Tapan Dutta, Panna Deb, Baptu Chakraborty have quit the party and joined the Trinamool Congress (TMC) when West Bengal's ruling party began its hectic political activities on July 25. Many other Congress leaders are also reportedly talking with the TMC leaders.

Eying the next assembly elections, which is one-and-a-half years away, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, the main opposition CPI-M, the Congress besides the TMC have started hectic political activities in Tripura. According to a statement of the All India Congress Committee General Secretary K. C. Venugopal on Friday, the party's interim President Sonia Gandhi has also appointed five Working Presidents for Tripura - Mohammad Billal Miah, Professor Manik Deb, Sushanto Chakraborti, Purnita Chakma and Dr Pradip Bardhan.

In the jumbo Tripura Pradesh Committee, 10 Vice-Presidents, 18 General Secretaries, 29 Secretaries, 16 members and a treasurer were appointed while a 35 member executive committee was constituted comprising a former Chief Minister, former state party Presidents and senior leaders.