Early Cheer For BJP In Northeast, Trends Hint At Saffron Sweep In Tripura, Good Performance In Meghalaya, Nagaland

An hour into counting of votes in the three Northeastern states of Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland, the BJP has got enough reasons to go into a celebratory mode. 

If the early trends hold, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seems set to sweep Tripura and improve its performance handsomely in Meghalaya and Tripura. 

Contrary to even its own expectations, the BJP has got early leads even in the tribal-dominated seats where the new tribal party — Tipra Motha — led by royal scion Pradyot Manikya Bikram Deb Barma was considered to be in pole position. 

The opportunistic Left-Congress alliance in Tripura, as was reported in Swarajya, seems to have been rejected by the people of the state. Also, the BJP looks to have effectively beat anti-incumbency in the state with Prime Minister Narendra Modi playing a large role (read this). 

The BJP’s gambit of replacing chief minister Biplab Deb with Manik Saha to beat anti-incumbency seems to have worked well. The soft-spoken Saha has struck a chord with the electorate.

What is also noteworthy at this stage is that the vicious Congress-led campaign against the BJP in the Christian-majority states of Meghalaya and Nagaland fell flat on its face. Not only is the BJP set to improve its 2018 performance in the two states, the Congress stares at certain decimation. 

The Trinamool Congress, as expected, is leading in a dozen-odd seats in Meghalaya, almost all of them in the Garo Hills.

But that has nothing to do with party chief Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek campaigning in that state extensively and rolling out doles, and more to do with the personal appeal and charisma of former Congress chief minister Mukul Sangma, who led eleven other legislators from that party to the Trinamool in November 2021. 

If the adage — ’morning shows the day’ — is to be believed, the BJP has a big cause for cheer.