Tripura Election 2023: Moboshar Ali joins BJP, CPI(M) calls him a 'traitor'

The Tripura CPI(M) on Monday termed party MLA Moboshar Ali a "traitor" for joining the BJP ahead of Assembly elections.

Senior CPI(M) leader Pabitra Kar said Ali is a "traitor" who betrayed the party for merely a ticket and has been expelled from the party. Ali, the CPI(M) MLA from Kailashahar Assembly constituency along with former Trinamool Congress state president Subal Bhowmik joined the BJP in presence of Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha and the party’s Northeast coordinator Sambit Patra in Delhi on January 27.

Assembly elections in Tripura are scheduled to be held on February 16.

Ali was given a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket for the Kailashahar constituency.

Ali who had won the 2018 Tripura Assembly election on a Communist Party of India (Marxist) ticket was denied ticket by the CPI(M) as his constituency was given to the Congress as part of "seat adjustment" with the Congress.

"We have spoken to Moboshar Ali and explained to him why his seat was given to Congress nominee (Birajit Sinha). He agreed to sacrifice but later betrayed the party decision taken at the highest level," Kar, the party’s state committee member told PTI on Monday.

The decision to go with the Congress has been taken by the party’s Politburo and the state committee keeping in mind the prevailing situation in the country, Kar said.