Lotus shines brighter than ever

Many people believe that the present BJP, which has 240 seats in the Lok Sabha, is weaker than the BJP of 2019, which had 303 seats. From a purely parliamentary numbers perspective, the party now depends on allies to retain power. Because of this, many assumed that the 2024 Lok Sabha election results marked the beginning of the BJP’s decline.

- DR. K. VENKATAKRISHNA RAO

However, I personally believe that the BJP today is much stronger than it was in 2019. In 2019, the BJP had a spectacular majority in Parliament, but at the regional and grassroots levels, several strong regional parties were still firmly in power and opposed to the BJP.

For instance in 2019, In Maharashtra, the NCP-Congress-Shiv Sena (UBT) coalition ran the Maha Vikas Aghadi government. In Bihar, the RJD-Congress-JDU alliance was ruling. In Delhi, the Aam Aadmi Party under Arvind Kejriwal dominated. In Odisha, Naveen Patnaik’s BJD was in power. In Andhra Pradesh, Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSRCP ruled. In Telangana, KCR’s BRS held power. Today, except for Telangana, the BJP-led NDA is in government in all these states.