From Our Correspondent
AGARTALA: Prime Minister Monmohan Singh’s visit to Tripura on July 22 next has been cancelled owing to unavoidable circumstance, official sources confirmed here on Sunday.
The Prime Minister was scheduled to visit the state capital to unveil the newly built Assembly Building and lay the foundation stone for the Governor House near Civil Secretariat.
The state government has received an official communiqué from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) about the cancellation of the high profile visit on Saturday evening.
Besides, the Prime Minister called up Chief Minister Manik Sarkar and informed him that he could not visit the state due to his important engagements in Delhi on July 22, according to an official release of the state government. However, the government will go ahead with its scheduled programme- inauguration of the Assembly Building on July 22.
Sources said, the recent political skirmish between the government and opposition Congress might have prompted the Prime Minister to skip the state government invitation.
One shop-keeper shot dead and several other were wounded when police and Tripura State Rifles (TSR) resorted to lathi charge and firing on non-violence movement on July 10 and 11. Besides, eleven scribes were also injured in the police atrocities.
Worried by the situation, AICC had sent a four-member team to visit the state to make an on-spot assessment. The AICC team headed by Union Minister Mukul Wasnik visited the state capital on July 12 and visited the residence of Papai Saha (24), who was shot dead by TSR jawans on July 11. It is highly believed that the PMO might have taken the decision on the basis of reports placed by the AICC team after touring the state.