Tripura is poised for an interesting elections this time. While BJP decided to stick to its tried and trusted 5-year old ally IPFT (Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura), Congress joined hands with CPI-M, a party that had ruled Tripura for 25 years. But this time there are two new entrants in the political battlefield of Tripura – the indigenous TIPRA Motha led by royal scion Pradyot Deb Barma playing the card of Greater Tipraland and Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC).

In the run up to the polls, the BJP had unleashed its electoral might in Tripura like never before, with its thunderous bandwagon rolling into the length and breadth of the state, making it impossible for the opposition to come up with matching show of strength. From national president JP Nadda to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, from Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath – all these BJP big wigs had campaigned in Tripura, all guns blazing.
And of course, the party’s biggest regional satrap NEDA convenor and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma was on a whistle-stop tour of Tripura for long, drawing frenzied crowds at rallies and road shows. On the whole, the BJP appeared bent on leaving rivals Congress, CPI-M, Tipra Motha and Trinamool Congress far behind at least in electioneering to start with.
While the Congress and the Left tried to make do with state leaders, Motha used its in house star power, its party chief and royal action Pradyot Deb Barman. The Trinamool tried to move and shake things by bringing in the fiery party supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
The BJP concluded it’s poll blitz in Tripura with two visits by its mascot, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on February 11 and 13.
Now it is left to the people to decide the verdict that will flip out on March 2 after the voting takes place on February 16.