To return to power in 2019, Narendra Modi must pass through Karnataka

BJP has failed to make any inroads in the South because it's largely seen as a North Indian party and its trump card of Hindutva doesn't work in the region

During an interaction with students on Teachers’ Day, when a student from Manipur asked how he could become the prime minister, Narendra Modi had said, “Start preparing for 2024. It also means till then I do not have any threat.”

Four years later, it seems as if Modi may have to re-examine his statement. Cracks have begun to appear in the perceived aura of invincibility of the Modi-led BJP. The main reasons behind this are the BJP’s electoral setbacks in the Chitrakoot assembly by-election in Madhya Pradesh in November last year, the fierce resistance it faced from a resurgent Congress