BJP has its eyes set on south India, but success is still a distant dream

The desperation of the BJP leadership to wrest control of Karnataka by any means, fair or foul, signify the party's inability to make a lasting and deep impact in south India

It was a strange coincidence that when Prime Minister Narendra Modi met and paid obeisance to an ageing and much-revered Pejawar Mutt chief  Vishvesha Teertha Swami on July 16 in Delhi,  Karnataka appeared to be in the grip of a full-blown political crisis after the resignation of 16 legislators of the ruling coalition of the Janata Dal (Secular) and the Congress.
 
Modi met the seer — whose social influence in Karnataka, especially among the Vaishnavites, is extensive — on the occasion of Guru Purnima, which is ritually celebrated as the day of respect for teachers. The meeting was unrelated