Incidents of child lifting, lynching and cow vigilantism are part of the BJP's "sinister design" to divert people's attention from the failures of its government at the Centre, Sarkar alleged.

Left Front leaders had announced their plan to boycott the ceremony to protest what they had alleged were systematic attacks on their cadres and party offices across the state.

From the airport to the venue, BJP flags lined up both sides of the street, as party workers wearing saffron celebrated in the streets.

Former chief minister Manik Sarkar was personally invited by Deb and BJP National General Secretary Ram Madhav.

PM Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and three chief ministers of BJP-ruled states in the northeastern region would be present at the swearing-in ceremony,

Biplab Deb was declared the state president of the BJP on January 6, 2016. He replaced Sudhindra Dasgupta, the longest-serving chief of the party in Tripura.

The CPI(M) described the incident as an example of “Communism phobia”, the BJP claimed that the statue was brought down by people “oppressed” by the Left.

In the last assembly polls, the Congress had a vote share of 36.5%. This gave the BJP the confidence that it could be a strong opposition. The BJP then started working on taking over the Opposition space.

Dominance of Bengali culture and language over Kokborok to the highest unemployment rate of 20% could have contributed to the rout of CPI(M) rule