Chandigarh: A dash of anti-incumbency, a few strategic regional alliances and a huge outreach effort by parent organisation RSS have helped the BJP generate a saffron wave in the northeast, a region where it wasn’t even a bit player five years ago.
Results in three states’ Assembly polls – for which counting is taking place today – indicate the BJP will fell the mighty Left in Tripura, will pose a serious challenge to the ruling Naga People’s Front (NPF) thanks to allying with a significant regional player, and cause the Congress to lose Meghalaya despite it possibly winning the most number – though perhaps not a majority – of seats there.
In the process, the Congress may lose one more state in which it was in power (Meghalaya), the Left may be left with just one state in which it is in government (Kerala), and regional parties may become kingmakers of the kind they never expected to be.
Also in the process, the BJP, which already rules 19 of 29 states, looks set to extend its saffron blanket to the northeast, having already got Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh in its kitty.
