Shah targets Tripura for oustLeft mission
Ahead of state elections next year, BJP chief says party mission is to overcome Left Front hurdle before a ‘Congressfree’ NE Marxist violence and vindictiveness cannot stop the BJP’s rise in the state. BJP will gain more ground if the ruling party conti
BJP president Amit Shah blew the election bugle in Agartala on Saturday, underlining the party’s mission to overcome a Left Front hurdle before a ‘Congress-free’ Northeast.
Shah is in Tripura on a two-day visit to prepare the party’s victory plan in the assembly election scheduled next year. His tour concludes on Sunday with a ‘parivartan sankalp rally’ at Kumarghat, about 150km from Agartala.
Tripura is the only Left-ruled state among four in the Northeast where state elections are to be held in 2018. Congress rules Mizoram and leads a coalition government in Meghalaya, while Naga People’s Front, a BJP ally, is in control of Nagaland. Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur are already in the BJP’s kitty.
Shah’s visit, part of his 95-day nationwide tour for expanding the BJP’s footprint, began with a 5km road show from the airport.
The BJP president said conquering Tripura is one of his party’s top priorities. “Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP has formed governments in Haryana, Maharashtra and in the Northeast. Our next target in the region is Tripura,” he said.
Manik Sarkar’s Left Front government in the state, he said, has done little besides indulging in corruption, organising political attacks and facilitating infiltration of Bangladeshis in more than two decades of rule.
“The Congress era is coming to an end. I believe people of Tripura are yearning for a change and want BJP as the alternative to communist rule,” Shah said. “Marxist violence and vindictiveness cannot stop the BJP’s rise in the state.
BJP will gain more ground if the ruling party continues to let loose its terror,” he said.The party is open to an alliance with non-communist parties in Tripura, but it wants to add to its organisational strength as well. Its membership in the state has grown from a modest 15,000 before the Lok Sabha election in 2014 to over 2 lakh by the end of 2016.
The party is portraying itself as the principal challenge to the CPI(M) after its victories in the recent by-election to the assembly. It also picked up more than 50 seats in the urban local bodies and panchayats.