Tripura Chief Minister and senior Left leader Manik Sarkar is hopeful the BJP-led NDA government would improve center-state relations to strengthen India's federal structure."It would be expected that the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) led central government would develop center-state relations for strengthening the federal structure of India," Sarkar told reporters here Thursday.He said: "Narendra Modi, before becoming prime minister, was a chief minister (of Gujarat). He knows the importance of center-state relations. We have to wait for some time to watch the performance of the new government.""All authority and power should be with the hands of the central government. We have been demanding to give more powers to the state governments. Previous Congress led Central government had ignored this basic demand," the Tripura Chief Minister added.
Sarkar, who is also a politburo member of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and skipped the swearing-in ceremony of Narendra Modi as India's next prime in New Delhi on May 26, said that, he would meet Modi after some time to raise the issues of Tripura.PWD and Health Minister Badal Chowdhury represented the Left Front government at the swearing-in ceremony.Sarkar left here Thursday to attend the CPI-M politburo and central committee meet in New Delhi.The CPI-M politburo will meet in New Delhi June 6. A two-day central committee meeting will follow June 7 to analyse the Lok Sabha results and to formulate future strategies.