Why the rise of regional parties is proving to be a thorn in BJP's side

Defeats in Rajasthan, and UP's Phulpur and Gorakhpur signal an alignment of castes that could wipe out BJP across the Hindi heartland, shatter its dream of reprising 2014

On July 27, 2017, Nitish Kumar formed a coalition government in Bihar with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Kumar’s departure from the opposition ranks, and BJP’s emphatic win in the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls in March 2017 convinced most that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on course to lead BJP to another majority government in 2019.

A little over a fortnight later, on August 15, 2017, the PM in his Independence-Day speech, spoke about his resolve to build a ‘New India’ by 2022.

It seemed he had taken for granted that he would indeed be leading his party to yet