Agartala, April 15: The Forward Bloc (FB), which had quit the ruling Left Front in Tripura over seat sharing disputes with the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) in the February polls, has rejoined the Front, party leaders said here on Tuesday.

"FB state president Brajagopal Roy in a letter said that his party, after reviewing the assembly election performance in its state committee meet last week, has decided to rejoin the Left Front and work unitedly," said Khagen Das, Left Front convenor in Tripura.

The FB had opted out of the Left Front and fielded candidates in 15 assembly constituencies in alliance with the Communist Party of India-Marxist-Leninist (CPI-ML) in the Feb 23 assembly elections. But it failed to make its presence felt in the polls.

The Front bagged 49 seats, eight more than the last assembly election tally in 2003, in the 60-member legislature and routed the Congress, which got only 10 seats, three less than in 2003. The Congress partner, the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT), won only one seat.

Poll results confirmed that the Left Front could have won two more seats if the FB had not cut into its vote share in Kamalpur and Badarghat assembly segments.

"The FB in its letter committed that the party would participate in all Left Front agitations and other programmes in future," Das added.

He said that the Front would organise demonstrations across the state Wednesday to protest the rising prices of essential commodities.

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