Left Front stakes claim to form government in Tripura

Agartala: Leaders of the Left Front, which won 50 seats in the 60-member legislature in the Feb 14 election, met Tripura Governor DY Patil on Monday and staked claim to forming the government for the fifth successive term, a leader said.

Ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) state secretary Bijan Dhar and Left Front convenor Khagen Das, an MP, met Governor Patil in Raj Bhavan and staked claim to forming the seventh Left Front government in the state since 1978. Outgoing Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, who is set to reassume office for the fourth successive term March 6, also met the governor separately. "Sarkar resigned Monday and the governor has asked him to continue in office till alternative arrangements were made," a Raj Bhavan official told a news agency. Dhar said: "The newly-elected members of the CPI-M met here today (Monday) and unanimously elected Sarkar as the leader of the legislature party." "After staking claim to forming the new government, we have informed the governor that Sarkar would continue as the leader of the Left Front legislature party," Dhar told a news agency. Sarkar has been heading the government in the Left-ruled northeastern state since 1998. While the Congress managed to retain its 2008 tally of 10 seats, its ally, the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura drew a blank when the votes were counted Feb 28. IANS