Watch Nidhi Razdan: BJP and the art of the possible in India

Gulf News

As the battle for the Lok Sabha formally kicks off in India, Prime Minister Modi has set the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the larger NDA alliance an ambitious target. 370 seats for the BJP (it currently has 303) and 400 plus for the NDA. These are the numbers that BJP leaders are repeating at every public meeting and every possible forum. The reality is that adding 67 seats to its own tally from 2019 won’t be that easy for the BJP.  Read the full story here: https://gulfnews.com/opinion/op-eds/india-elections-can-bjp-secure-victory-across-crucial-states-1.101774058  See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km  Subscribe to Gulf News on YouTube and watch more of our videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/GulfNewsTV  #UAEnews #India #politics

Transcript

00:00Prime Minister Modi has set the BJP an ambitious target of 370 seats in the Lok Sabha election

00:09and more than 400 for the National Democratic Alliance or the NDA.

00:14But is it actually possible for them to do this?

00:16Well, politics is the art of the possible and you can never rule anything out, but it's

00:20not going to be easy.

00:22As I wrote in a previous column, for the BJP to add 67 seats to its tally, which is what

00:27it would have to do to get 370, it would have to retain all the seats that it had won earlier,

00:35including those states where it maxed out, and then add seats from newer places, particularly

00:41the southern states, where it is actually much weaker.

00:45Secondly, this target of 400 for the NDA explains why the BJP has been aggressively wooing smaller

00:53parties, even former allies, back into the NDA fold.

00:57So for example, Prime Minister Modi shared the stage this week with Mr. Chandra Babu

01:01Naidu of the TDP.

01:03And this came as a surprise because they had a very bitter parting of ways back in 2018.

01:08Mr. Naidu has personally attacked the Prime Minister on several occasions.

01:13The BJP too has labelled him corrupt and immoral.

01:17But of course, it's real politic and so they're back together once again.

01:22Like that, the BJP is sewing up alliances in many other states.

01:26There could be one with Naveen Patnaik's BJD, for example, the Akali Dal may be back in

01:31the NDA fold as well.

01:33There are southern parties like the PMK who they are wooing.

01:36And then surprisingly, even a husband like Raj Thackeray of the MNS, he's now coming

01:42to a tie up with the BJP in Maharashtra because they're so keen on the Maratha vote, even

01:47though he doesn't really have much clout.

01:50Is this desperation on the part of the BJP or is this a well thought out, calculated

01:55strategy to reach the 400 mark?

01:57We'll have to wait and see.

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