Saffron, saffron everywhere: How India's political map changes after the NDA's clean-sweep in the northeast

  • IndiaToday.in
  • New Delhi
  • March 4, 2018
  • UPDATED 21:18 IST

HIGHLIGHTS

  • Northeast is now awash in saffron - the only exception being Mizoram.
  • Now, NDA members govern 21 of India's 29 states.
  • Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Mizoram, Punjab, Odisha, Bengal, and Telangana are the states where NDA is not in power.
The saffron surge: Now, members of the National Democratic Alliance, the coalition of parties headed by the BJP, govern 21 of India's 29 states. States coloured saffron are governed by the BJP or NDA allies. Congress states are marked blue.

HIGHLIGHTS

  • Northeast is now awash in saffron - the only exception being Mizoram.
  • Now, NDA members govern 21 of India's 29 states.
  • Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Mizoram, Punjab, Odisha, Bengal, and Telangana are the states where NDA is not in power.
"Shunya se shikhar tak." From zero to the summit. Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke those words to jubilant BJP leaders and cadre late Saturday, after his party stormed to power in Tripura, one of the last two Communist bastions in India. Today, BJP lawmakers joined delegations

"Shunya se shikhar tak." From zero to the summit. Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke those words to jubilant BJP leaders and cadre late Saturday, after his party stormed to power in Tripura, one of the last two Communist bastions in India.

Today, BJP lawmakers joined delegations that staked claims to form governments in Nagaland and Meghalaya, the two other northeastern states that went to polls recently. So now, members of the National Democratic Alliance, the coalition of parties headed by the BJP, govern 21 of India's 29 states.

As you can see in the map above, only Tamil Nadu (AIADMK), Kerala (LDF), Karnataka (Congress), Mizoram (Congress), Punjab (Congress), Odisha (BJD), West Bengal (Trinamool Congress), and Telangana (TRS) are ruled by parties outside the alliance.

India's northeast is now awash in saffron - the only exception being Mizoram. That could change later this year, when Aizawl gets a new assembly ahead of next year's general election.

Telangana chief minister and TRS leader K Chandrashekhar Rao has expressed the need for a Third Front in India - an alternative to the BJP and the Congress. He has received support from his West Bengal counterpart, Mamata Banerjee, among others.

ALSO WATCH: Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar submits resignation

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