Agartala, Nov 26 (IANS): CPI-M Central Committee member Gautam Das has been elected the Tripura state Secretary as the two-day 22nd Tripura state conference of the party ended here on Monday.

The 67-year-old journalist and writer-turned-politician replaced Bijan Dhar, who held the post for around 10 years.

Das joined the CPI-M in 1968 and was the founder Editor of the party's Tripura state mouthpiece "Daily Desher Katha" and he held that post for about four decades.

The outgoing secretary said a 75-member state committee with nine women members and three-member control commission had been formed in the state conference.

Besides CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, politburo members Biman Bose, Prakash Karat, Brinda Karat and Manik Sarkar attended the conference.

Dhar said that since the BJP took power in Tripura in March, its workers and "goons" carried over 5,000 attacks on the Left and other opposition parties.

"There is no democracy in Tripura now under the BJP governance. Prople's freedom is curtailed, no free expression of opinion is allowed and democratic rights are slashed," the CPI-M leader alleged.