LEFT'S HAND IN ALLIANCES

The results might have been different but for the alliance of the Left parties and Congress for the Tripura T assembly polls and the byelections for the Sagardighi assembly seat in West Bengal's Murshidabad district.

- Romita Datta

It surely raised the hackles of their main electoral opponents, the BJP and the Trinamool Congress. PM Narendra Modi, on the final day of campaigning in Tripura, warned voters that "old players of misgovernance have joined hands...even a single vote for them will take Tripura backwards". Bitter rivals during the 25-year Left rule in Tripura, the alliance did initially leave the arriviste BJP disconcerted, especially since its main agenda was to split the anti-BJP/ anti-incumbency votes. In the event, the BJP need not have worried: it won a majority on its own, winning 32 seats. Equally interesting was what happened at the other end: the Congress improved its tally from zero in 2018 to three and its vote share from 1.8 per cent to 8.6 per cent; the CPI(M), on the other hand, dipped from 16 to 11 seats, its vote share nearly halving to 24.6 per cent from 42 per cent. ProLeft sceptics of the alliance were quick to conclude that the Congress benefited at the expense of the Left.