Former Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar has urged CPI(M) leaders in the northeastern state to go to the villages and organise agitations on local issues to win the hearts of the people.

The CPI(M) led Left Front had ruled the northeastern state for 35 years in two stints – from 1978 to 1988 and 1993 to 2028.

He claimed that there is a need for self-introspection among CPI(M) leaders in Tripura as the party has failed to attract people.

"Before 2018, the CPI(M) had 88,000 active members which came down to 45,000 after the 2018 Assembly polls. The downfall is steep taking into consideration that the state has around 42 lakh people", the CPI(M) politburo member said in a party programme at Town Hall here on Tuesday.

Sarkar urged the party leaders to go to the villages and organise agitation on local issues to win the hearts of the people.

"The local party units must adopt a matured approach while selecting the issues. The people will accept the issues which are not relevant to their lives. The party's frontal wings shall organise the people to organise agitation on people's issues", he said.

The CPI(M) politburo member alleged that the BJP government in Tripura is grappling with corruption and nepotism.

"We must organise the masses taking advantage of the prevailing situation since the party still has 44,000 strong members. Those who have been trying to engineer division between tribal and non-tribal will not sustain for long..., he added.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.