The incumbent BJP-led NDA is facing a tougher-than-expected contest in the ongoing parliamentary elections. While this has rightly been traced to its overall disappointing performance in power, particularly on the economic front, it would also appear that at least two political calls made early in its tenure – both by the BJP – have now come back to haunt the NDA.

The first was the BJP’s decision to go into almost every assembly election post-2014 with Narendra Modi as its mascot.

Local issues and leadership questions were relegated to the background, consciously. This had its dividends, keeping inner party squabbling at manageable levels, and ensuring that the carefully-crafted, systematically-magnified Modi persona papered over anti-incumbency and blunted entrenched rivals.

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