Manik Sarkar has served as the Chief Minister of Tripura for 15 years. As a member of the Communist Party of India-Marxist, he donates his entire salary to the party and receives a small living allowance in return. According to election filings, Sarkar has only Rs. 10,800 in cash and bank deposits. He believes that Communism still remains relevant in India and is confident that the Left Front will be re-elected to power in Tripura for a seventh time. Sarkar accuses the opposition Congress party of allying with terrorist groups and criticizes the central government for economic issues. However, he credits the Prime Minister for recognizing Tripura's role in curbing separ

1. by
Arise Roby
DO YOU KNOW WHO
IS THIS????????
CLICK Pg Down
ARISE TRAINING & RESEARCH CENTER

2. India's poorest chief minister
Manik Sarkar, who has been the Tripura chief minister
for 15 years and is leading the CPI-M in upcoming
elections, is perhaps India's poorest chief
minister.Keeping in line with his party policy, Sarkar
gives away his salary and allowances to the Communist
Party of India-Marxist, which pays him Rs.5,000 as
subsistence allowance to run his family.In 2008,
Sarkar's cash in hand and bank deposits totalled
Rs.16,120. According to his latest election affidavit, this
amount has come down to Rs.10,800.Sarkar's wife, a
retired central government employee, has Rs.22,015 in
hand.
ARISE TRAINING & RESEARCH CENTER

3. She has another Rs.24,52,395 in banks. Of this, Rs.18,930
and Rs.84,118 are in two savings accounts. The rest of the
money, mostly retirement benefits, is in the form of
fixed deposits. The Sarkars have no children.After the
death of his mother Anjali Sarkar in 2009, Sarkar
inherited a small house in Agartala. He donated it to a
kin. Saying that Communism has not lost its relevance,
Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar has asserted that
the Left Front is supremely confident of returning to
power for a seventh time.Indian Communist parties, he
said, would soon overcome the dip in their electoral
fortunes.
ARISE TRAINING & RESEARCH CENTER

4. "People who say that Left parties have lost their
relevance or significance nationally have a strong fear
of us," the 64-year-old CPI-M veteran told IANS.The
Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) lost power
in West Bengal after ruling it for 34 long years in 2011.
It was also voted out, although narrowly, in Kerala
around the same time."Forces within and outside the
country do not want a strong Left in India or a Left-
supported central government," Sarkar said. "That's
why they have been trying to destabilise the Left
strongholds."Sarkar, who has completed 15 years as
Tripura's chief minister, said his government could
boast of "outstanding performance on all fronts".
ARISE TRAINING & RESEARCH CENTER

5. And so, he said, the Left would be returned to power for a
seventh time, "with more votes and seats".Sarkar argued
that although Tripura was a small state, electing only two
members to the Lok Sabha, the outcome of the Feb 14
election would impact on national politics.Former chief
minister Nripen Chakraborty, the father figure of the
Communist movement in Tripura, led the first CPI-M
government in the state from Jan 5, 1978.Since then,
except for one stint (1988-93) when the Congress took
power, the state has been a Left citadel.He accused the
Congress, the main opposition party, of ganging up with
"terrorists" -- his euphemism for Congress ally Indigenous
Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT) -- to fight the
elections.According to him, the INPT is the "overground
force of terrorists".
ARISE TRAINING & RESEARCH CENTER

6. The INPT denies the charge.The chief minister also accused the
Congress-led central government of bias vis-a-vis the Tripura
government. "Why such prejudice, we don't know."At the same
time, he credited Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with
appreciating the role of the Tripura government in curbing
separatism in the border state. Tripura borders
Bangladesh.Claiming that his government had made great
economic strides, he said "thousands of Congress members
including leaders have abandoned it and are joining hands with the
Left Front". He appealed to other Congress members to think of
the future.Sarkar said the Congress had stolen the Trinamool
slogan of "paribartan" (change) -- a slogan which clicked in West
Bengal -- but it had failed to woo the electorate in Tripura.He
blamed the central government for price rise, corruption and
economic slowdown and farmer suicides."Our main priority has
always been the eradication of poverty and upgrading the standard
of living of the people. This will always top our list of priorities."
ARISE TRAINING & RESEARCH CENTER

7. ARISE TRAINING & RESEARCH CENTER