BJP leader Biplab Kumar Deb has asserted that "democracy-loving" people of Tripura will give a "befitting reply" to the CPI(M) and Congress in the assembly elections in the northeastern state due early next year.

Speaking at a party's programme in Golaghati area in Sepahijala district on Thursday, the former CM alleged that CPI(M) and its "non-official ally" Congress have "cheated the people of Tripura" during the Left Front rule in the state.

Now, they have joined hands in the name of "restoration of democracy".

He was referring to a joint statement issued by six Opposition parties, including the Congress and CPI(M), on December 27, urging people across political affiliations to "put an end to the regime of the dark".

Deb asserted that the BJP has implemented promises made to electors before the 2018 assembly elections.

The BJP is committed to providing government benefits to the last person, he added.

Senior CPI(M) leader Pabitra Kar dismissed the charges and asserted that the Opposition parties are coming together with an understanding, not a political alliance, to "restore democracy that has come under threat under the BJP rule".

"BJP leaders including Chief Minister Manik Saha and his predecessor Biplab Kumar Deb are scared of our effort, hence they are leveling such baseless allegations," he said.

Former Tripura Pradesh Congress Committee president Gopal Roy said the joint statement was issued by the six political parties to appeal to all "democratic and secular people to come forward to resist attacks on democracy".

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