The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is busy finalising tie-ups, bringing more parties into the fold of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) as more partners will be key in helping the BJP retain power with a bigger victory margin. The face of the party’s election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is spearheading the outreach, addressing rallies and announcing projects that he says will pave the path for a ‘Viksit Bharat’ in the next two decades. He has also taken the fight to the opposition’s bastion, in West Bengal for instance, where the party has set its sight on a bigger prize. The PM on Wednesday upped the ante by targeting the state government for failing to secure law and order and safety of women in wake of the Sandeshkhali incident.

With a little help from friends

To meet the target set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, of winning over 400 of the 543 Lok Sabha seats, with a little help from its allies, the BJP is busy stitching alliances in the run up to the polls. The party that boasted of leading the NDA, a coalition of politically disparate entities such as the Maharashtra-based Shiv Sena and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) of Jammu and Kashmir after it came to power at the centre in 2014, hit a rough patch when its partners walked out of the NDA, miffed at the party allegedly undermining partners.

The first to snap ties was the TDP in March 2018 over the issue of special status to Andhra Pradesh, followed by the PDP in July that year after the coalition government in J&K collapsed. In 2019, the Shiv Sena walked out following a disagreement over power-sharing in Maharashtra. A year later, the first ally on board, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) quit in protest over the farm laws that were later repealed. Ties with the Tamil Nadu-based AIADMK have been frosty since 2023, casting a shadow on the alliance.

Given the role that the allies will play in helping score a better performance in the upcoming election, the party has made good with Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) in Bihar and Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha, both allies that were part of the NDA in 1999 when the coalition went on to win a majority. While the JD(U) is already on board and a partner in the Bihar government, a formal announcement with the BJD is expected soon.

Also on the cards are ties-ups with TDP, Jana Sena and a clutch of other regional entities.

Modi in Kashmir

At a meeting of political parties from Jammu and Kashmir in June 2021, PM Modi asserted his commitment to restoring democratic processes in the erstwhile state, including elections, and said he wants to remove ‘Dilli ki Doori’ (the distance from Delhi) as well as ‘Dil Ki Doori’ (the distance from the heart).

The meeting came two years after the Parliament passed the bill to abrogate Article 370 from J&K and bifurcated the state into two Union Territories – Ladakh and J&K. The misgivings of the political class over the changes in J&K’s status and the lack of electoral process notwithstanding, the Supreme Court upheld the abrogation of Article 370 that gave the former state special status.

With elections around the corner, PM Modi will be in J&K on Thursday to announce a slew of projects and programmes worth over ₹5,000 crore to boost the agro-economy. This is the PM’s first visit since 2019 and will be keenly watched as it marks the resumption of the electoral exercise in the region.

Though preparations have begun in full steam for the Lok Sabha polls in the UT, there is palpable interest in whether assembly polls will be held as per the SC’s instruction. The apex court in its ruling in December last year had instructed for assembly polls to be held by September this year.

Modi’s message from Sandeshkhali

PM Modi’s ‘Didi O Didi’ jibe at West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee during the 2021 assembly elections was perceived to have alienated the women voters in the state. Although the BJP went on to bag 77 (later fell to 70) of the 292 seats, it could not win over the women voters, who chose to vote for Bannerjee and her Trinamool Congress (TMC). With an eye on Bengal, the party has made amends to put the spotlight on women and the alleged atrocities inflicted on them by people with political clout.

PM Modi on Wednesday sent out a message to the women during his visit. “TMC leaders are committing atrocities against sisters and daughters of poor, the Dalit and tribal families at various places. The women of Bengal and the country are angry. This storm of Sandeshkhali will reach every part of West Bengal, and decimate the TMC across the state,” he said.

After his rally in Barasat in the North 24 Parganas district, the PM interacted with a group of women from Sandeshkhali (in the same district) and heard in detail their ordeal at the hands of local TMC leader Sheikh Shahjahan, who is currently in CBI custody. The BJP has been leading a campaign against the TMC government’s failure to rein in Shahjahan and restore law and order in Sandeshkhali. With the PM weighing in, the BJP is confident of winning over ‘Nari Shakti’ (women power).

The PM’s message, that the incidents of violence against women that took place in Sandeshkhali will put anyone to shame, is expected to resonate with the voters.