By Vidya Subrahmaniam, The Hindu, India- In Uttar Pradesh, Narendra Modi’s stock has dipped, with deep disappointment replacing the frenzy that only one year ago had fetched him 71 of 80 Lok Sabha seats on offer from the State.
A striking feature of Election 2014 was Mr. Modi’s complete dominance of every aspect of it. He had stood head and shoulders above his own party, the Bharatiya Janata Party. However, as a senior bureaucrat observed, this gap had narrowed considerably in the past year. Local journalist Rajendra Kumar Gautam described the slide in Mr. Modi’s popularity evocatively: “Unka TRP down hai” (His TRP has plunged). Both the bureaucrat and Mr. Gautam felt that Mr. Modi needed to show quick results in U.P. or the BJP will have it tough in the 2017 State election.
The towering leader who got everything right in the 2014 Lok Sabha election is today at the receiving end, being blamed for everything, including failings normally laid at the door of the State government. Indeed, thanks to the fantastic promises the BJP’s prime ministerial nominee made on the stump, the line separating Central and State responsibilities has virtually disappeared in U.P.
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