Tripura Speaker expresses regrets for ‘undesired comments’ against ex-CM, LoP

Agartala, Feb 15 (IANS) Two days after terming former Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar and Leader of Opposition (LoP) Jitendra Chaudhary “cheats”, state Assembly Speaker Biswa Bandhu Sen on Friday expressed regrets for his “undesired comments”.

In a Facebook post, Sen said that he expressed his “regret” for his “undesired comments”. Addressing a BJP programme in North Tripura at Dharmanagar on February 12, the Speaker described CPI-M politburo member Sarkar as ‘cheater No. 1’ and LoP Chaudhary as ‘cheater No. 2’.

“I sincerely apologise for my unsolicited comments,” said the local actor-turned-politician.

The 71-year-old politician, Sen was first elected to the state Assembly as Congress nominee in 2013 polls from Dharmanagar Assembly constituency and in 2018 and 2023 re-elected to the Assembly from the same constituency as a BJP candidate.

The Assembly Speaker sought his apology soon after Chaudhary, a former minister, said that Sen’s comments on February 12 reflect his culture and political ambience.

LoP Chaudhury, however, also welcomed Sen’s apology but said he should also create a conducive and democratic political environment in his area Dharmanagar. Chaudhury, who is also the CPI-M Central Committee member, said that Sen should maintain the dignity and decorum of the Assembly Speaker’s chair.

He said: “We don’t know why the Speaker made such offensive remarks. People of the state would judge who the cheater is.”

Sen often comes to the media headlines over his frequent controversial comments including one in 2021 where he claimed that a large section of bank employees are Left sympathisers and don’t want progress of the nation.

Subsequently, in a separate comment in the same year where he asked his party workers to “break backbones” of mischievous employees, who claimed they didn’t get anything in their lives.

–IANS

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