BJP breaches Left-bastion Tripura

NEW DELHI: BJP managed to breach one of the last Left bastions Tripura and is set to form the government in the state while Congress is close to the half-way mark in Meghalaya and NDPP, an ally of the saffron party, is running neck and neck with the ruling NPF in Nagaland.

BJP put in an impressive performance in Tripura, where the CPI(M) has been in power since 1993 and chief minister Manik Sarkar at the helm since 1998, getting more than 40 seats after the second round of counting in the 60-member Assembly. CPI(M) was trailing at 16 seats in what became a straight fight between the two ideologically opposed parties. Congress and TMC failed to open their account in the 59 seats that went to polls.

All BJP candidates had lost their deposit in Tripura in the last Assembly election and the party had got only 1.4 per cent of the votes. It has made a huge jump to 40.9 per cent votes in these elections. The right-wing party slammed Sarkar, who was trailing in Dhanpur seat till going to press, for the dismal state of development in the state under Left rule of 25 years. The chief minister's spartan lifestyle and the Left ideology failed to win CPI(M) the required number of seats as the voter chose to give BJP a chance this time. The Left is now in power only in Kerala.


To manage its lack of political presence in Tripura, BJP tried all ways to manage the numbers at the hustings. It had poached all six TMC MLAs and one of the three Congress legislators ahead of the elections. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was roped in to campaign in areas where the Nath and Deonath followers have a significant presence. This group has been demanding OBC status which the Manik Sarkar government had turned down.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's charisma, the efforts of BJP leaders Himanta Biswa Sarma, Sunil Deodhar and national general secretary Ram Madhav over several months paid dividends for the party in Tripura. State unit chief Biplab Deb is likely to become the chief minister.

CPI(M) had 51 members in the 60-member Tripura Assembly but the BJP's slogan of "Chalo Paltai (Let's bring change)" worked in these polls. BJP struck an alliance with Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT), an anti-Left party that has been demanding a separate state. It fought on nine seats and the BJP won the support of the tribals through this alliance.

Congress can draw some solace from Meghalaya where it is close to the half-way mark with 23 seats out of the 59 that went to polls in the 60-member Assembly. However, BJP has not given up hopes of forming a government there with party in-charge Nalin Kohli saying they will explore all possibilities of a post-poll alliance. BJP was leading in seven seats, and its ally NPP in 14. BJP is hopeful of UDP with six seats extending support. All would now depend on who manages to woo the 15 Independents.

Wary of losing out to the BJP, Congress has rushed its senior leaders Ahmed Patel, Kamal Nath and Mukul Wasnik to Meghalaya to prevent a repeat of Goa and Manipur where the saffron party managed to form a government by getting the support of the smaller parties. Congress has ruled the state for three terms.

Though BJP has virtually no presence in Nagaland, its ally NDPP is likely to get the numbers as it was leading in 33 seats while ruling NPF stood at 22 after the second round of counting. Neiphiu Rio quit NPF and joined NDPP ahead of the elections. He is the front runner to become the chief minister.

BJP changed its stand on a host of issues to win support in the North-East. While its leaders have pressed for a beef ban in most parts of the country, they were either silent or supported beef consumption in the North East (and in Kerala). The party also tried to fight the image of being anti-Christian. In one of his election rallies, Prime Minister Modi had said that most of the nuns rescued from conflict zones like Yemen were Christian as was the missionary saved in Afghanistan.