It has been two years since the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress pulled off a landslide victory in the West Bengal assembly elections, staving off a no-holds barred challenge from the BJP and the wider Sangh Parivar. Since then, the Trinamool has tried to expand outside West Bengal but with little success.
Its first serious outing, in Goa last year, ended in dismal failure despite an expensive publicity-driven campaign. Its next challenge, in Bengali-majority Tripura, is also unlikely to yield much in dividends, especially after traditional rivals in that state, the Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) announced an alliance. That makes its campaign in Meghalaya, which votes on February 27, all the more important for the party.
