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Advani best home minister: Tripura CM

Last Updated 29 November 2015, 19:31 IST

Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, the only Communist CM in the country, has praised BJP veteran L K Advani as the “best home minister” of the country.

In a television talk show on Sunday, Sarkar said Advani provided central assistance to Tripura to fight insurgency in the late nineties though the state was ruled by the Left government that was at the opposite end of the political spectrum from the ruling NDA.
 “He is the most successful home minister,” Sarkar said of Advani. 

“I had the opportunity to work closely with four or five home ministers; I think he was very successful. He was sincere, and understood the demands of the states by merit and tried to help.”  Sarkar was recently asked to present a note on how Tripura successfully crushed militancy so that its model can be followed elsewhere in the country. The chief minister, however, is not entirely happy with the present NDA dispensation, saying a few of its actions have hurt the state.

“Though it was BJP-led, the Vajpayee government never created political or ideological problems for us. The Modi government is just over one year old, but some of the steps it has taken are not helpful,” he said.

Sarkar picked out the move to abolish the Planning Commission, which he said “creates trouble for us.”

“Now the Niti Aayog and the state government do not have any meeting. Earlier there were regular meetings between planning commission and the states” Sarkar added.

He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi listens to the issues but rarely acts on them. “When special category status was removed for all north-eastern states, the regional chief ministers adopted a resolution. (PM) listened to us but did not pass any comments. That is all the trouble,” he said.

The advent of Niti Aayog has cost a small state like Tripura Rs 250 crore of development funds, the chief minister claimed.

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(Published 29 November 2015, 19:31 IST)

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