sudip roy barman 57 began his political career as an nsui worker in 1986 since 1998 he has consecutively won five assembly elections but he has been in the news for switching parties in 2016 he joined tmc from congress in 2018 he was in the bjp in february 2022 he was back in congress excerpts from his interview with biswendu bhattacharjeeis this election differentthe 2023 assembly election in tripura is being held at a time when the country is also gearing up for next years lok sabha polls i am sure bjps retreat will begin from tripura the people of the state voted bjp to power with our help in 2018 but the fiveyear rule of the party was a disasterwhat about your poll prospectsi am not only confident of my success but also that of the congresscpm combineyou have been blamed for switching over to tmc then bjp and back to congress againchange is always good be it in politics society and understanding i was born in a family of politicians i switched over to tmc after the debacle of congress in the 2013 assembly polls but i found tmc leaders were not serious about tripura when we saw that bjp is seriously working in tripura we as a team joined the saffron party in february 2017 and succeeded i became a minister but it was suffocating for me the then chief minister biplab kumar deb was indulging in corruption i briefed the bjps central leadership including j p nadda about it but they didnt listen i found no point in remaining with such a party so i returned to congress where democracy prevailsbjp has accused you of not following the party line and defying leadersbjps rule in tripura was a reign of terror violence corruption and was antidemocratic my heart bled when veteran cpm leader and the longestserving minister of tripura badal choudhury and former chief secretary y p singh were put behind bars in false cases i personally spoke to bjps top brass to stop such harassment but no action was taken biplab deb harassed opposition party workers independent media journalists and openly threatened people by tapping the telephones of private individuals if protesting such events is indiscipline and defying leadership i did ithow do you differentiate between the communist rule and bjps rule in tripuracommunist rule saw suppression of rights violence during election and postpoll violence on the opposition workers everything took place along the party lines and was marked by a narrow sense of development but bjps rule witnessed looting of public funds criminal attacks and intimidation of the people who opposed themwhat is your poll promise to the peoplei am contesting on a congress ticket the election manifesto of the party would speak about the promises as a worker of the party and a contesting candidate i am committed to restoring democracy in public life