A vistarak is assigned to convince voters of the 'far-reaching benefits' of the schemes and doles handed out by the Centre and the UP government.
'The signals were clear. December 6 would not witness another show of "Hindu" strength staged periodically in Ayodhya. Something grave was afoot.' Radhika Ramaseshan's personal recollection of the events of December 6, 1992.
When the temple issue predominated BJP's discourse, its victory margins have been narrow.
After the alteration of the boundaries, the BJP assessed the wards afresh to see what changes in strategy were needed
After the BJP lost the recent assembly polls, one of Shah's first acts was to appoint new prabharis before the Lok Sabha election. Radhika Ramaseshan reports on the significance of this post that doesn't exist in the BJP's constitution.
'About 90 per cent of our netas have no loyalty and will go with the winner.'
Sacking Ajay Mishra would further antagonise Brahmins in UP already upset with Yogi's government.
The BJP has incorporated caste as a significant component of its politics.
The pressure on Delhi mellowed Lucknow's ruling dispensation's initial enthusiasm to try and draw electoral mileage from the developments in Afghanistan.
Radhika Ramaseshan reports on why the Karnataka chief minister risked crossing swords with his party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, and its ideological wellspring, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
Where does Basavaraj Bommai stand three months after he assumed the reins of power in Karnataka?
'It doesn't help to transpose the Hindi heartland model on Bengal. Bengalis don't understand its dynamics. They won't comprehend the impact of Modi's dip in the Ganga because Bengal's political culture is different. Even in the Ramakrishna Mission Ashrams, Christ is worshipped on Christmas. It's difficult to polarise Bengal religiously'
As the virus ravaged rural areas, the state BJP figured out it was impossible to underplay or escape its impact on its political plans.
Biplab Kumar Deb is accused of 'punching above his weight' and being 'ignorant' of Tripura's ground realities.
Winning an election may be a breeze for the BJP but the aftermath of victory isn't always painless.
A BJP source admitted that a census will inevitably reconfirm the numerical majority of the OBCs. 'That will overturn social equations and consign the upper castes to a twilight zone of marginalisation. The RSS won't accept it.' Radhika Ramaseshan reports.
'Can we slip through the cracks in the alliance and use the situation to our advantage?'
Marandi returned to the BJP after 14 years and the party now wants him to lead the state unit. But a generation of new leaders isn't familiar with him, explains Radhika Ramaseshan.
In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, the BJP is looking to fill the Opposition slot and not aspire to occupy pole position.
If the protests have cemented the ties between the peasantry and the traders, the political implications for the BJP might become too serious to be disregarded because its core base was made up of the urban Khatri merchants.
'We have learnt lessons from Mamata Banerjee who overcame the BJP's canard by reciting Chandi Path and playing up her Brahmin origins in her campaign. We need to adopt strategies like asking Muslims to lie low and distributing tickets prudently so that we are not accused of favouring one community.' Radhika Ramaseshan reports.
Khushi Dubey, Hari Shankar Tiwari and Mata Prasad Pandey represent the resentment among Brahmins towards the Adityanath government. Radhika Ramaseshan reports.
Apart from the second pandemic upsurge in Haryana which devastated its cities and villages, in most districts panchayats stopped inviting BJP-JJP leaders to social gatherings, while a few announced a boycott.
If pandemic (mis)management threatened to dominate Goa's electoral discourse, the BJP is up against a deeper structural issue in its organisation, created by the fact that a majority of the legislature party and the ministerial council is made up of Congress defectors, disparagingly referred to by the Opposition as "imports". Radhika Ramaseshan reports.
Both the BJP and the JD-U abetted the LJP split but interestingly, independently. And there hangs a tale of conflicting interests, gamesmanship, subterfuge, and retribution, reports Radhika Ramaseshan.
The fact that Home Minister Amit Shah recently met Raje was a marker that Delhi will be compelled to take her more seriously than it would care to. Like B S Yediyurappa, she's a regional chieftain who can't be discarded at will, reports Radhika Ramaseshan.
After an apparent truce between AAP and the BJP following the Delhi polls, sparks are flying once again. Radhika Ramaseshan reports.
'New Delhi is in a perpetual dilemma. It can't do without Yediyurappa, but it doesn't want a powerful CM. It stokes the opponents within against him. The result is he has never settled down in office, even in the present tenure'
cution' of the Brahmins in the regime of Adityanath, a Rajput, accused of pandering to his caste's interests. Radhika Ramaseshan reports.
The AGP, an ally of the BJP, voted for the Citizenship Amendment Bill in the Rajya Sabha, after Amit Shah's assurance. However, the scale, intensity and, persistence of the anti-CAA protests since then have taken it by surprise.
'Initially, most people willingly stood for hours in queues to withdraw cash because they believed that after 50 days, black money would come out, some big men would be punished and perhaps jailed. Again, nothing happened.' 'Now the talk is that small people have been punished while the rich and the powerful have got away.' 'The RSS is not going out of its way to counter the view. Let the BJP explain.'
The accent on 'making the south feel wanted' was the reason why P Muralidhar Rao, who was dropped as general secretary, was partially reinstated in the central apparatus as prabhari in charge of Madhya Pradesh. 'Pressure from the RSS was brought to bear on Rao's return,' a source said. Radhika Ramaseshan reports.
While Himanta Biswa Sarma scotched rumours that he would be the king this time, political sources in Guwahati maintained that he, and not Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, had a bigger say in choosing candidates, reports Radhika Ramaseshan.
The BJP has begun identifying officers who can 'rid' the administration of SP-BSP 'hangover'.
By conventional yardsticks, Das was an audacious choice by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP president Amit Shah, like Devendra Fadnavis was in Maharashtra and Manohar Lal Khattar in Haryana. Will his choice pay off in the elections next month?
When Home Minister Amit Shah, who was in Gujarat to cast his vote in the urban body polls, learnt of the poor voter, instead of heading home he went to the Motera stadium, organised a control room, and was on the phone with practically everybody assigned duty on the ground: MPs, MLAs and BJP office-bearers. His single commandment was to check the voter list and phone or personally get people to the booths, reports Radhika Ramaseshan.
The BJP government in Uttar Pradesh battles its own and Opposition over the community's 'victimisation' and alleged preference to the Rajputs. Radhika Ramaseshan reports.
'We had no inkling this would come. Admittedly, we failed to inspire confidence in migrants that no harm would come to them if they stayed back.' Radhika Ramaseshan reports.
If Advani's ideological leadership galvanised the party's cadres and core support, Vajpayee soaring oratory, common touch and easy charm won over the masses.
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