BJP used money, muscle power to win Tripura: Yechury

New Delhi, March 3
Accepting the Tripura mandate, Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury on Saturday charged the BJP with using money and muscle power to win the state assembly elections.

"This has happened because the BJP has unscrupulously utilised huge amounts of money power and muscle power and managed to successfully bring together all anti-Left elements and parties including, the erstwhile opposition parties together into one anti-Left platform. They succeeded as a result of that," he said as the election results came in.

Yechury warned the people of Tripura that there would be unfavourable ramifications due to the use of money in elections. "BJP brought together all kinds of forces using money power without attaching any morality to it. There will be results due to this for which people need to be alert," he said.

In a series of tweets, Yechury said: "We will continue to oppose BJP and its divisive agenda not only in Tripura but all over India. It is imperative for those who believe in India's Constitutional ideals to defeat the nefarious designs of the BJP-RSS. The battle is on."

Earlier, Yechury said the CPM accepts the people's mandate in Tripura which is for the formation of BJP-IPTF alliance government. This has come after the Left Front being in power for 25 years, winning five consecutive elections in the state, he said.

"Forty-five per cent of the people...have voted for the Left Front. We assure the people of Tripura that the CPM will continue to work for their interest, their welfare and most importantly for the unity of the tribal and non-tribal sections in the state, which we believe is very important for this north eastern state," he said.

The Left leader said the party would study and analyse the poll results and then decide its next set of actions.

It's victory for Modi's politics of development: Amit Shah

New Delhi, March 3
BJP President Amit Shah on Saturday said the party's victory in the Tripura assembly elections is a victory for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's politics of development.

"I thank brothers and sisters of Tripura for their massive support to the BJP. This is the victory for Modi's politics of development and his commitment to the welfare of northeastern region of India," Shah said in a tweet.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is headed to form the government in Tripura for the first time after toppling the Left Front led by Communist Party of India-Marxist which had been ruling the state since 1993.

The elections to 59 seats of the 60-member Assembly were held on February 18. Polling was deferred to March 12 in Charilam (Reserved-Tribal) seat due to the death of sitting MLA and Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) candidate Ramendra Narayan Debbarma.