AGARTALA: Days after taking over as the president of Congress's Tripura unit, Pradyot Kishore Debbarman brought former chief minister and veteran leader Samir Ranjan Barman back into the party fold on Saturday.The move is part of an organizational restructuring of the flailing unit before the Lok Sabha election.Barman, father of health minister Sudip Roy Barman, was expelled from Congress in September 2017, when he was seen attending a BJP programme soon after Sudip joined the party, deserting Trinamool Congress and, earlier, Congress."Barman did not join the party, he came home," Pradyot said after inducting him, adding that many more such leaders are to be brought back.Pradyot was given a rousing reception at the airport as well as at the Congress Bhavan by party workers. Later, Pradyot met Barman at his residence and welcomed him back with a pledge to work towards reviving the lost political ground in the state. "Under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi , Congress has been working to make the northeast free of BJP," Pradyot said.Party sources said Barman was not happy with the previous leadership of the party in the state, headed by Birajit Sinha. The Congress, which had 10 MLAs in the 2013 assembly and was the main opposition, drew a blank in the election last year and was reduced to a party with less than 2% votes.Pradyot said he is committed to build a party with the participation of educated and honest people, including youth, women and professionals. "It is my personal ambition to bring in youth, women, professionals, graduates - people who will work with honesty and integrity. I think what we need most at this hour is clean politics," he added.

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