Tripura, Meghalaya, Nagaland polls: BJP leads the charge against the Left

BJP, earlier inconsequential in Tripura politics, leads the charge against the Left in this election

Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland will vote in February. Of these three north-eastern states, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has pinned hopes on Tripura to add another trophy to its collection of keepsakes from the east.
 
After Assam, Tripura is demographically hospitable to the BJP because it stands polarised between two major sections — the Bengalis and nine tribal ethnic communities, including Riang  (16.6 per cent), Jamatia (7.5 per cent), Chakma (6.5 per cent) and Halam (4.8 per cent).
 
Tripura, however, has not splintered into a factious mosaic like Assam. Yet, one of the daunting challenges is to balance