Stage set for history .... Have falsehood of Sickularism failed even as they harmed BJP prospects ::: How much of internal sabotage ::::: Modi to be sworn in as PM on June 9, Sunday for record third time in a row

TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu is likely to ask that Andhra Pradesh be given special status in exchange for his support. But there has no official statement by his party about such a demand.

This special status grants a state certain financial benefits for its development. But there are certain norms and it is generally given to under-developed states such as in the northeast of India. Bihar of Nitish Kumar also asked for such a status earlier.

In 2018, Naidu had left the NDA due to disagreements over this very demand. He re-joined the alliance months before this year's general elections.

The BJP won 240 seats in the election falling short of the 272 mark required to get a majority in  543 member Lok Sabha. However, two key BJP allies, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Janata Dal (United) (JD(U)), won 16 and 12 seats each in their respective states, Andhra and Bihar pushing the NDA comfortably over the half-way mark. 

There are a few other regional and smaller outfits too in the ruling combine.  "NDA has completed around three decades as an alliance....It is not an ordinary thing. I can say that this is the most successful alliance," the PM-designate said. 

Modi first stormed to power in 2014 and then won an enhanced mandate in 2019. Prior to that he was Chief Minister of Gujarat for 13 long years. And his administration in Gujarat for its developmental approach was often called 'the Gujarat Model' and various facets of developmental works and infra uplift in the western state has been repeated in other states in the country.  

At a campaign rally in April, Mr Modi said: “When their (the opposition Congress) government was in power they had said Muslims have the first right on the nation’s wealth. This means they’ll collect the wealth and give it to whom? To those who have many children. To infiltrators.”

Some analysts interpreted the remark as an attempt by Mr Modi to galvanise his conservative Hindu support base.

But looking at the results from some key constituencies – the BJP candidate has lost in the temple city of Ayodhya - it doesn’t appear to have had the desired effect.

Questions are now being raised about using the Hindu card as a campaign tool, especially since what it seems to have achieved is the opposite - uniting Muslim minorities against the BJP.  -- Yogita Limaye, BBC News in Delhi

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“For the first time in his political career, Narendra Modi will have to play the coalition game,” said Prof Christophe Jaffrelot of King’s College London.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi 

“Modi strikes a deep chord with his aura of clarity and strength, speaks simultaneously to anxieties and aspirations, communicates using emotionally resonant metaphors, understands the power of branding key initiatives to generate a sense of activity and purpose and knows the power of enigmatic silence,” Santosh Desai, a well-known brand consultant, wrote in 2017.  (BBC) 

How much of internal sabotage ??? 

Narendra Modi to be sworn in as PM on June 9, Sunday for record third time in a row 

Have falsehood of Sickularism failed even as they harmed BJP prospects ??

For the first time in a decade, opposition parties showed teeth and also tasted blood.

Opposition parties – over 20 of which had formed a coalition in an attempt to oust Narendra Modi – needless to add ... far exceeded most expectations and exit poll predictions.  

Promises to protect the constitution from being rewritten by the BJP proved particularly effective among Dalits – the lowest caste, previously known as untouchables – who feared losing their constitutional protections -- that is Reservation and Quota.

Rahul Gandhi repeatedly whipped out a copy during his campaign speeches.

Muslims stuck to Mamata in a do-or-die spirit 

In West Bengal, Muslims backed Mamata Banerjee like the manner they used to side with Congress before 1977 and between 1977 and 2011, they were with the communists. Once the Left lost grip...they lost it permanently. Now Leftists do no have a member from Bengal in both -- the state assembly as well as the Lok Sabha. 

For BJP, immense success came in Odisha and Madhya Pradesh. In southern states, the saffron party picked up one seat in Kerala. 

The story from south is still an encouraging one for Modi. The BJP performance in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and even Karnataka ultimately show the acceptability is increasing.  

One important message that is being missed out is the failure of the Congress and their alliance partners to divide and rule the key region by pushing the divisions and politics of language differences. 

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