• Abhijit Nath, NET Correspondent, Tripura 

Agartala, June 20, 2022 : Hours after Tripura’s former health minister Sudip Roy Barman faced attack in the Abhoynagar area late at Sunday night, BJP leader and Information & Cultural Affairs minister Sushanta Chowdhury on Monday denied the allegations and said that the latter had staged a play to gain sympathy.

Speaking in a press conference here at Agartala on Monday noon, Chowdhury said that Roy Barman was inspired by Mamata Banerjee’s broken leg in the West Bengal elections. That is why he has fabricated a false drama of attacking himself in order to win the election.

“It should be remembered that Mamata Banerjee was defeated by BJP candidate Shuvendu Adhikari in Nandigram. The defeat of Sudip Roy Barman in the by-election in the 6-Agartala assembly constituency in Tripura will also be confirmed,” said Chowdhury.

“I am being implicated in the incident of former MLA Sudip Roy Burman being attacked by BJP candidate Dr Ashok Sinha. It is rumored that he was beaten by miscreants in our presence. However, we were not present at the time of the incident. Instead, I rushed there on hearing that Congress workers were destroying BJP’s party flag, banners and were preparing to attack the party’s Mandal president house,” Chowdhury added.

The minister also said that he was busy in discussions at his official residence with BJP candidate Dr Ashok Sinha and MLA Sudhanshu Das to determine the electoral strategy when he received multiple calls and rushed to Ujjan Abhaynagar to control the situation.

He further claimed he had no idea when Roy Barman was beaten. However, he came to realize that the BJP’s party’s banners were destroyed by bringing in outsiders and that an attack was being prepared on the Mandal president’s house.

He also questioned why Roy Barman had gone to Ujan Abhaynagar late at night without campaigning.

The ICA minister further claimed that Roy Barman has lost his fame among the people and therefore he is bringing outsiders from different places including Sonamura, Fatikara, Ramchandraghat.

“Instead of supporting the defectors, people are showing confidence in the BJP. Therefore, the BJP will definitely win the by-elections,” he asserted.

MLA Sudhangshu Das said, “I know some of the outsiders who came to Sudip Roy Burman’s call. They are known in the area as notorious traitors. With their help, he wants to win the election by creating unrest.”

Meanwhile, BJP 8-Agartala Mandal president Hiralal Debnath has filed a case against Sudip Roy Barman. It is alleged that the miscreants, led by Roy Barman, destroyed the BJP’s party flags, banners and tried to attack his house. Not only that, in the statement, the miscreants threw bombs and fired a few rounds from the pistol, he added.