BJP focuses on Tripura; eyes TMC, CPM influx

New Delhi: The BJP has begun flexing its muscles in the Northeast, a region under party president Amit Shah’s radar for organisational expansion. After Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur, the party is now eyeing Tripura, a state under Left Front rule since 1993. Assembly polls in this state is due in 2018, and before that the saffron party is busy strengthening its base as well as its strength.

Over 1,000 Trinamul Congress leaders and workers have joined the BJP so far and speculation is rife that there could also be a massive exodus from the ruling CPI(M) to the BJP, which is gaining strength across the region ever since it came to power in Assam. On Thursday, 400 TMC members, including 16 of its 65 state committee members, joined the BJP in Agartala.

Besides Tripura, two other Northeast states, Meghalaya and Nagaland, will go to the polls nest year. Meghalaya is now ruled by a Congress-led coalition, while BJP ally Naga People’s Front is in power in Nagaland.

The TMC is facing a factional fight which the BJP feels could help it in gain more ground in the state.

Two top TMC leaders, Surajit Dutta and Ratan Chakraborty, have joined the BJP.

After joining the BJP, Mr Chakraborty claimed that only the saffron party would be able to end Left rule in the state as the TMC was a divided house.

After forming its first government in Assam last year, the BJP formed an alliance of regional parties, named North-East Democratic Alliance, to extend its reach across the entire region.