The Road To 2024

The historic win in Gujarat makes the BJP's general election prospects brighter, but the party will need the Modi magic to hold

- Anilesh S. Mahajan, Kaushik Deka M.G. Arun

Narendra Modi is never one to rest on his laurels. On December 5, the final day of the voting, when it was evident that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was heading for a historic win in the assembly election in his home state, the prime minister was already thinking ahead. He has set his eyes on the bigger prize—the 2024 General Election—which he wants to win for the BJP for a third consecutive term. Soon after he made a public show of casting his vote in Ahmedabad’s Nishant High School—which had the Opposition crying foul, claiming that it violated the election code of conduct—Modi took a flight back to the national capital. From the airport, he drove straight to the BJP’s headquarters at Deendayal Upadhyay Marg to conduct a two-day review meeting with national office-bearers, the state prabharis and the state unit chiefs of preparations for nine states that will go to the polls in 2023 and to chalk out the roadmap to ensure his party’s victory in 2024.

WHILE GUJARAT WAS CAUSE FOR CELEBRATION, THE DEFEATS IN HIMACHAL AND DELHI ARE SOBERING REMINDERS FOR THE BJP TO NURTURE STRONGER STATE LEADERS