AGARTALA, `June 6 - In a new twist to the ongoing �civil war� in Congress, veteran Congress MLA and former Speaker Jiten Sarkar on Monday resigned as MLA in order to rejoin his old party � CPI (M).
Sarkar met Speaker Ramendra Debnath in his office and submitted his letter of resignation which was accepted by the Speaker subsequently.
According to sources, Sarkar would formally rejoin the CPI (M) soon and would be put up in the by-election as candidate for Barjala (SC) Assembly constituency which he represents in the constituency.
The decision by the MLA � of quitting Congress � is seen as a fallout of threats, intimidation and insults by the dissident Congress faction.
�Sarkar had been forced to apply for security to protect his life and family and this was granted with immediate effect yesterday itself�, said a party leader on condition of anonymity.
The move by leader of opposition Sudip Roy Barman and his followers to join Trinamool had reportedly upset Sarkar deeply. Sources said that he was against joining Trinamool and had hoped that Dilip Sarkar, MLA from Badharghat, would stick with Congress. But when Dilip was pressured into leaving Congress and joining Trinamool on Sunday, the veteran leader was deeply uspet and decided to leave Congress and rejoin his old party.
So far, Roy Barman who has been spearheading a revolt against the party high command over the party�s tie up with CPM in West Bengal, has managed to garner support of six MLAs.
Meanwhile, PCC president Birajit Sinha has requested the Speaker to disqualify all the six MLAs. In a letter addressed to Speaker, Sinha pointed out the rebel MLAs � Sudip Roy Barman, Biswabandhu Sen, Asish Saha, Dilip Sarkar, DC Hrangkhawl and Pranajit Singha Roy were elected on Congress tickets and are now supporting Trinamool Congress which amounts to anti-party activities. Thus they must be disqualified as member of Assembly, said a party leader.
Meanwhile, the AICC has asked party secretary Bhupen Bora to rush to Agartala to handle the situation. Now, the ball is in the Speaker�s court.
