AGARTALA: Following its decimation in the assembly election earlier this year, Congress in the state has been working to rebuild its organizational foothold before the Lok Sabha election next year."Over the past three months, since the BJP-IPFT government came to power, more than 4,200 supporters of BJP and CPM have joined our party," said Birajit Sinha, president of the state unit of Congress. "Even today (Saturday)," he added, "70 BJP and CPM supporters joined Congress in the Badarghat (SC-reserved) assembly constituency."In the assembly polls, Congress contested 58 seats but did not win any - a massive downward slide for a party that was the main opposition in the state with 10 seats. Meanwhile, BJP went from winning no seats in the 2013 assembly election to sweeping the election with 35 seats by itself. Its pre-poll ally IPFT won eight seats and the coalition came to power with 43 seats in the 60-member House.Sinha attributed the shift to a sense of disillusionment with CPM. "After 25 years of CPM's oppression, people voted for BJP to bring about a change. But it has turned out be worse than the Left rule," he said. "CPM supporters found it difficult to stay relevant. BJP voters saw the new government did nothing about unemployment, stagnating development and the increasing crime rate," he added.Criticizing the 20% hike in public transport fares, Sinha said job creation has taken back seat. "No meaningful steps have been taken to increase flow of funds in the market. People are struggling to make ends meet and the government is increasing transport fares. We demand an immediate rollback," he added.He also lashed out at the NDA government for the increase in fuel prices. "Fuel prices are at their highest in the country. Within three months of BJP rule, it has hiked sales tax on diesel at 16.5% and on petrol at 24%. Instead of introducing measures to bring down fuel prices, the government has increased the cess on petrol, diesel and natural gas ," he said.BJP dismissed Congress's claims about public discontent. "We have been in power for just three months. Congress's assessment seems premature. As far as our supporters joining other parties is concerned, it is an individual's choice to support who they may. No leaders from our party have broken ranks," state general secretary of BJP Pratima Bhowmik said.

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