Tripura BJP stares at internal rift after leader dies in clash

AGARTALA: Death of a local BJP leader after being injured in a group clash with other BJP workers has intensified internal conflict within the ruling party at the grassroots level.
Party sources said the problem started on Wednesday, when a group of BJP cadre, led by local zila parishad memberTitan Pal, attacked another group at Bagma Bazaar at Udaipur in Gomati district.
They accused the other group of opposing their choice of nominees for the recent three-tier panchayat elections.Later, another group, also from BJP, reportedly attacked Pal and his group. Two persons were left seriously injured. In retaliation, Pal's group beat up a leader from the rival group, Biltu Sinha, and a few others.
Biltu sustained serious head injuries and multiple fractures. He was taken to the Agartala Government Medical College and, later, referred to Kolkata. He died on Saturday morning.
Police filed two separate cases against 58 people from both warring groups and arrested eight people. As news of Biltu's death spread, clashes broke out again, following which six BJP workers were arrested. On Saturday night, police arrested panchayat chief Uttam Rudrapal and another leader, Rakesh Ghosh, on charges of killing Biltu.
Senior party leaders have rushed to the area to ease the tension. BJP has faced similar problems in the past over selection of chief functionaries of three-tier panchayat, often attributed to its poor base at the grassroots level.
"BJP could not create a base and nurture its cadres, who had worked for the party during the assembly election. The party has been suffering from leadership crisis and whatever little base BJP was able to create was also eroded due to its bureaucratic functioning. The ward-level leaders and page observers, who had played a big role in assembly poll, got disconnected from the top leaders," said a senior party leader.
According to him, BJP in Tripura has not been flourished as a cadre-based party due to leadership problems.
After the party came in power, most cadres of CPM and remaining workers of Congress had switched to BJP. "It may have marginalized those who had been with BJP since the beginning," he added.