Take a break if you don’t win, political strategist tells Rahul

BJP likely to gain in east, south, predicts Kishor

NEW DELHI: Validating the BJP’s claims, eminent political strategist Prashant Kishor said the ruling party will add significantly to its seats and vote share in south and east India, the two regions where its hold is weak-to-non-existent, barring Karnataka.

In an interview, Kishor also said despite the BJP’s apparent dominance, neither the party nor Prime Minister Narendra Modi is invincible, pointing out that the opposition had three distinct and realistic chances of stopping the BJP juggernaut but frittered away the opportunities because of laziness and misplaced strategies.

“They (BJP) will either be first or second party in Telangana which is a big thing.

They will be number one in Odisha for sure. You would be surprised as, in all likelihood, to my mind, the BJP is going to be the number one party in West Bengal,” he said. In Tamil Nadu he said, BJP’s vote share may hit double-digit percentage. He, however, asserted that the BJP is unlikely to win 370 seats target set for the polls.

In Andhra Pradesh, where assembly polls will be held alongside the Lok Sabha elections, he said Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy will find it very difficult to come back.

Speaking of the Lok Sabha polls starting from April 19, he said the BJP will feel the heat only if the opposition, especially the Congress, can ensure that it loses at least around 100 seats in its strongholds of north and west India. And that’s not going to happen, he says.

“By and large, the BJP will be able to hold its ground in these regions,” he said.

The BJP has made a major and visible push to expand in south and east India over the years as its top leaders like Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah have frequented these states. On the other hand, the opposition has made little effort in these states.

NEW DELHI: Prashant Kishor has suggested that Rahul Gandhi should consider stepping back if the Congress does not get the desired results in the LS polls. He said Gandhi, for all practical purposes, is running his party and has been unable to either step aside or let somebody else steer the Congress despite his inability to deliver in the last 10 years. “This according to me is also anti-democratic,” said Kishor. “When you are doing the same work for the last 10 years without any success, then there is no harm in taking a break... You should allow someone else to do it for five years. Your mother did it,” he said, recalling Sonia Gandhi’s decision to keep away from politics following her husband Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination and let PV Narasimha Rao take charge in 1991. “But it seems to Rahul Gandhi that he knows everything. Nobody can help you if you do not recognise the need for help. He believes he needs someone who can execute what he thinks is right. It is not possible,” Kishor said.