Opposition missed chances, BJP to gain in east, south, may win over 300 seats: Prashant Kishor

Validating the BJP’s claims, Prashant Kishor said the ruling party will add significantly to its seats and vote share in south and east India, the two regions where its hold is weak-to-non-existent, barring Karnataka.

Validating the BJP's claims, eminent political strategist Prashant Kishor said the ruling party will add significantly to its seats and vote share in south and east India, the two regions where its hold is weak-to-non-existent, barring Karnataka.

In an interaction with PTI editors, Mr. Kishor also said despite the BJP's apparent dominance, neither the party nor Prime Minister Narendra Modi is invincible, pointing out that the opposition had three distinct and realistic chances of stopping the BJP juggernaut but frittered away the opportunities because of laziness and misplaced strategies.

"They (BJP) will either be first or second party in Telangana which is a big thing. They will be number one in Odisha for sure. You would be surprised as, in all likelihood, to my mind, the BJP is going to be the number one party in West Bengal," he said. In Tamil Nadu he said, BJP's vote share may hit double-digit percentage.

Telangana, Odisha, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Kerala together account for 204 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha but the BJP couldn't cross 50 seats in all these states put together either in 2014 or 2019 when it won 29 and 47 constituencies respectively.

He, however, asserted that the BJP is unlikely to win 370 seats, its target set for the polls. In Andhra Pradesh, where assembly polls will be held alongside the Lok Sabha elections, he said Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy will find it "very difficult" to come back. Mr. Kishor had worked for Mr. Reddy in 2019 when his YSRC party had vanquished the incumbent Telugu Desam Party, now a BJP ally.

Mr. Reddy, like former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel, has gone into a "provider" mode for his constituents, instead of being a fulfiller of people's aspirations. He likened the situation to the yesteryear monarchs who took care of their people with doles and largesse but nothing more.

Similarly, Mr. Reddy has ensured cash transfer to people but has done little to provide jobs or boost the stagnating development of the state, he said.