Agartala, Oct 6 (IANS): After around 75 days the Trinamool Congress (TMC) stepped into the BJP ruled Tripura aiming for the 2023 assembly polls. West Bengal's ruling party on Wednesday announced two ad-hoc committees to expand the party's organisational base in the northeastern state.

A party statement said that the All India Trinamool Congress under the guidance of Chairperson Mamata Banerjee has announced the Tripura Trinamool Congress State Steering Committee and the State Youth Committee. Former BJP and Congress leader Subal Bhowmik, who joined the TMC on July 29, was made the Convener of the 19-member state steering committee while former Congress leader Baptu Chakraborty, who joined the party last month, was appointed convener of the 11-member state youth committee.

Of the 19-member steering committee, there are five women members and two members each from other backward communities and tribals, three members each from schedule caste community and Muslims. Daughter of former Union Minister and late Congress leader Santosh Mohan Dev (from southern Assam's Silchar) Sushmita Dev, who quit the Congress and joined the Trinamool on August 16, was made member of the state steering committee. Trinamool had nominated Dev for the Rajya Sabha last month.

Almost all other members of the two ad-hoc committees are deserters from the Congress and other parties.

Since the "house arrest" of 23 members of poll strategist Prashant Kishor's I-PAC (Indian Political Action Committee) at an Agartala hotel on July 25 by the state police, more than 20 top Trinamool leaders, including several ministers, MPs and national General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee, have started arriving in BJP-ruled Tripura, triggering violence and hectic political activities.

Trinamool leaders, including Bratya Basu, Moloy Ghatak, Chandrima Bhattacharjee, ministers, Derek O'Brien, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar and Ritabrata Banerjee, have been coming to Tripura frequently since July 25. Several thousand workers and some leaders have joined the TMC during the past two-and-a-half months.