Lotus blooms in Communist stronghold

Crumbling the red bastion, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) looks poised to form the government in the Tripura state.

As soon the counting of votes began on Saturday morning, the trends reflected a close fight between the ruling Left and the BJP. As the day progressed, the BJP surged ahead, leaving the CPI-M behind.

Out of 59 assembly seats, the BJP is leading on 30 seats at the time of filing this report.

Amit Shah, in his Twitter post, thanked people of Tripura for their support to the BJP.

"I thank brothers and sisters of Tripura for their massive support to BJP. This is the victory of PM @narendramodi's politics of development and his commitment to the welfare of North-Eastern region of India," he tweeted.

The BJP led a massive campaign in Tripura, which had been under the Left rule for more than 20 years.

The BJP leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged people for poribortan (change) in their election campaign, across the state.

Shah also congratulated his party leaders and workers for orchestrating the party's historic victory in the Communist stronghold.

"Congratulations to Shri @rammadhavbjp ji, Shri @Sunil_Deodhar ji, Shri @himantabiswa ji, Shri @BjpBiplab ji and I also applaud the hard work & dedication of our karyakartas of @BJP4Tripura unit which has made this historic win a reality," he said.

The BJP workers wearing saffron caps and smeared in the saffron colour burst into celebrations on the roads of state capital Agartala.

Tripura went to polls on February 18 and recorded nearly 92 percent voting.

--ANI