Simultaneously, the BJP has also plans to reach out to its another old ally, the Shiromani Akali Dal, with Mr Shah scheduled to meet Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir Badal this week.The mending of ways by the BJP top brass has begun as it is not only alarmed over the Opposition’s unity moves but also due to a serious erosion of support in several states, including Uttar Pradesh, which has been the “jewel in the crown”, as well as Maharashtra and Bihar.The dramatic developments in Karnataka, which saw the installation of a JD(S)- Congress government, and the shock defeat in the Kairana Lok Sabha bypoll, the third such setback in Uttar Pradesh after the Gorakhpur and Phulpur defeats, have set the ball rolling in the ruling party on “which way to the front?”. While no details of the meeting, in which Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis was also present, are known so far, the duration of the talks suggests they were wide- ranging and that the BJP could be out to win friends once again.
One of the reasons Atal Behari Vajpayee lost the game in May 2004 was that the Congress had built a better alliance while the BJP did not care even if half a dozen allies had left as it got caught in its own web of “feel good” and “India Shining”. There are more than indications that the Opposition will swim together in 2019 to keep the BJP Stainless steel faucet tube at bay. In journalism, it is said that a reporter is only as good as his/her last story.The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha was the only outfit from the non-BJP camp to have fielded its candidates, and managed to retain both the seats. What made matters worse for the BJP is the announcement by NCP chief Sharad Pawar that he would work to unite all anti-BJP forces in the state. This is the essence of political developments over the past one month that has seen an upbeat BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi suddenly on the backfoot and a spring in the step of Rahul Gandhi, who was seen as a laggard till the Gujarat polls six months back.
The NDA had taken a backseat since Mr Modi became the first BJP leader to win the party an absolute majority, with 282 seats in the 543- member Lok Sabha, in May 2014, a hundred more than the best done by Mr Vajpayee in 1999 on the back of the Kargil conflict. It is a stand taken by the Shiv Sena sometime back. Advani, who had always maintained a close rapport with Sena founder Bal Thackeray. The same applies to politics, or more so, as winning alone counts. The dramatic entry of JD(U) leader and chief minister Nitish Kumar in the alliance last year has set the cat among the pigeons.What has happened is that the NDA is now seen as a “Not Delivering Alliance” by its allies in the wake of the recent Lok Sabha and Assembly bypolls, where the BJP could win only one Lok Sabha and one Assembly seat out of four Lok Sabha and 11 Assembly seats.
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