Criticising the opposition CPI(M) in Tripura for allegedly not coming out on the streets to protest against the ‘state-sponsored terror tactic’ of the BJP and protect its supporters, senior Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Bratya Basu on Saturday appealed to the Left supporters to join the Mamata Banerjee-led party.

The CPI(M), which ruled the state for 25 years before being ousted by a BJP-led coalition in 2018, however, denied the charge and said its workers and leaders were the first to face the attack of the saffron party.

Senior TMC leaders from West Bengal are of late visiting the North-eastern state where the assembly election is due in 2023.

When the BJP has let loose a reign of terror in Tripura, the leaders of the main opposition party CPI(M) are not coming out on the streets to protest. If the leaders do not stand by the supporters, they should join our party," Basu, also a minister in West Bengal, said.

The CPI(M) should not help the saffron party by opposing the TMC, Basu told a press conference.

The TMC dethroned the CPI(M)-led Left Front in West Bengal in 2011 after the grouping was in power for 34 years. The Mamata Banerjee-led party returned to power in the state for its third consecutive term earlier this year facing stiff opposition from the BJP.

Basu alleged that people in the state are looking for shelter in the face of terror unleashed by the saffron party in both the states Tripura and West Bengal.

At least 14 leaders and workers of the TMC, including those injured in an alleged attack by BJP workers, were arrested in Tripura on August 8 for "violating Covid norms".

We were booked and attacked by the BJP sheltered goons, but not afraid. It is a state-sponsored terror tactic, but we know how to face it. Mamata-di (Banerjee) is with us. If your (CPI-M) workers) leaders are not giving you protection, join the TMC," Basu said.

Asserting that the TMC will capture power in the next assembly elections in Tripura, Basu claimed that a large number of leaders of the Congress and the BJP are in touch with the TMC.

The TMC started its organisation in Tripura in 1999 when former chief minister, the late Sudhir Ranjan Majumder, joined the party.

Former Congress minister Prakash Das, ex-BJP office bearer Subal Bhowmik, state Youth Congress working president Santanu Saha and others joined the TMC recently.

The allegations against the party were rejected by the CPI(M)'s Tripura secretary Gautam Das.

"We are facing the saffron terror and our leaders are always standing by the supporters and workers of the party. Our party workers came under attack following a rally at Khowai district two days back. The house of our MLA was attacked, ransacked, even BJP sheltered goons hurled bombs in his house," he said.

Basu is making baseless allegations to get some support, he claimed.

He said that six TMC MLAs had joined the BJP before the 2018 assembly elections in Tripura, thus helping the saffron party come to power.

Several other senior West Bengal TMC leaders including Parliamentarians Santanu Sen and Kakali Ghosh Dastidar, and Tripura leaders such as Subal Bhowmik and Ashish Lal Singh were present at the press conference.