AGARTALA / SHILLONG, May 26 (TIWN): Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar is not attending the Plenary meeting of the North East Council(NEC) in Shillong as he will remain busy in the two day long CPI-M state committee meeting to be held on 26th and 27th of this month followed by the Polit Buro meeting in New Delhi. This meeting will be attended by all the governors , chief minsters, chief secretaries of all the north eastern states including Sikkim. This meeting is very crucial regarding the launching and implementation of development schemes in the North Eastern states especially after the launching of ' Act East Policy ' of Modi Gov't at the Centre. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to address Northeast Council meeting in Shillong on May 27 . Income Tax Department by issuing notice to five ruling party MLAs including two colleagues in Manik Sarkar's cabinet has asked them to appear before the authorities in Guwahati regarding their alleged failure in giving income tax. Among the 5 include Forest and RD Minister Naresh Jamatia and Science and Technology Minister Bijita Nath along with MLA Keshab Debbarma.

Since the inclusion in the Cabinet Naresh Jamatia has been in headlines for controversies. And the involvement of Bijita Nath's family with Chit Fund organizations like Rose Valley is not denied even by the CPI-M party members. Many raised voice against Bijita demanding to drop her from the Cabinet but due to some mysterious reasons Manik Sarkar showed lenient attitude towards her .

Tripura too has several projects pending with NEC, which will be pushed in the meeting in presence of the Prime Minister. Recently, the central government has modified project finalisation mechanism in NEC for early sectioning of viable schemes.

Chief Minister Manik Sarkar too could have raised the issues related to sanction of funds pending for the state as always campaigned by the ruling party leaders . But instead he decided to skip the all important meeting , said a top level Melarmath sources.

However , Governor of Tripura Tathagata Roy, Induatry Ministry Tapan Chakaraborty, Tripura Chief Secretary Y P Singh will attend  in the one-day meeting.

It is to be mentioned here that Narendra Modi led NDA Gov't at the Centre is really very keen for the development in the North Eastern region especially in the infrastructural field . And due to special initiatives taken by  PM Modi Union ministers of different ministries have been visiting the NE region quite frequently.

And keeping in view of BJP's historic win in Assam , it is obvious that Modi will take more initiatives for the development of NE states. Considering all these Manik Sarkar's presence is said to be more important than the two day long CPI-M state committee meeting. A tip level official in the state secretariat told TIWN on Wednesday ," This is nothing but a petty reason on behalf of the Chief Minister for skipping the all important NEC meeting especially when PM Narendra Modi will be there along with a couple of ministers of his Cabinet . The dates for NEC meet were finalised well before the CPI-M  party's decision to hold state committee meeting . So it's clear that the state committee meeting can easily be postponed for three or four days . "

     It is really very interesting that CPI-M state committee is going to be held in such a situation when the party's line to form alliance with Congress in West Bengal poll failed very badly . Even in Tripura this debacle is said to have an impact in the near future . Already many CPI-M party workers and leaders left the party and some of them joined BJP . Again the rebel group of Congress is going to join TMC under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee, a hard-core enemy of the CPI-M. When everything is going against what Manik Sarkar & Co expects , a notice issued by the Income Tax Department has come out as a bolt from the blue to the party.

         However, the notice of Income Tax department has come as a severe blow especially at a time when the party is scheduled to meet after the West Bengal poll and the opposition parties' sudden change of tactics . Many think that Manik Sarkar's honesty too has been placed in front of tough challenge . Now the questions that are going to be raised are :-

1) Will Manik ask Bijita and Naresh to resign from his Cabinet ?

2) Will he ask other MLAs to express apology publically for taking the wrong course by not giving income tax properly ?

3) Will Manik ( so poparly termed as 'Honest and Poorest ') dare to Taj harsh decisions like Nitish Kumar did in Bihar by suspending an MLA of his party ?

4) Will Manik still go with his one sided policy denying the views of the partymen ?