Bharatiya Janata Party National President Amit Shah on Sunday said his party would make Tripura a “model state” within five years if it is voted to power. He also attacked the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) government in the state and accused it of “politics of violence”.

Shah held a roadshow in the Gandhigram town ahead of the Assembly elections in the state on February 18. The Bharatiya Janata Party is contesting 51 out of the 60 Assembly seats, and its ally Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura will fight the remaining nine seats.

“Communism has ended all over the world and the Congress has been finished in the country,” Shah said at a rally in Mohanpur. “I am confident that Tripura’s people will also vote in sync with the country and the world, and vote for the Bharatiya Janata Party.”

He said his party wanted to replace the “politics of violence” with “politics of development” in Tripura. He said state government employees in Tripura were still getting salaries based on the 4th Pay Commission’s recommendations. “I promise that we will get 7th Pay Commission after formation of a BJP government here,” Shah said.

He claimed that Left parties have looted Tripura for many years, and said the BJP will change that. “The government of ‘Lal bhai’ and its cadres have looted Tripura for 25 years in the name of development... A BJP government is bound to come. It won’t be merely a change of MLAs or government but will usher in its transformation,” he said.

Shah is on a two-day visit to Tripura and will also hold rallies in Chawmanu and Teliamura.