It is a shame really.

If you don't put your house in order, voters will go for the next available option. Split BJP never had a chance, just like split Shiv Sena has proved to be a boon for Cong in Maha.

Also, local body elections are different from state elections, which are different from LS elections. The full impact of Modi will be felt only during LS elections. The way things are, BJP will lose even Delhi Assembly -- 4th straight defeat in the home state and base of Sushma and Jaitley,

Unfortunately, Advani seems to be having no intention of making a graceful exit. Will have to be forced to 'voluntarily' make way. Once he is out, the rest should fall easily, though Cong moles will not give up till the very end.

Good to see you here after such a long time!

Indeed. When you have a supreme, dictatorial leader who is a foreigner in every respect other than citizenship, and ill-informed about and interested in the country she rules, this has to happen. I suspect things are far worse than is publicly known.

Well said. These guys have fought neither for freedom nor for free India. Not one soldier/war hero among those who rule India. Perhaps the only country in the world such a record. No wonder Pakistan is having a free run. Easy to buy those who see politics/babugiri as business.

Thank you!

Delhi BJP is not out of touch with reality; it is chasing a different one, one that Cong wants it to, starting from Omerta about Sonia to collusion in framing dubious, communal laws to shielding Congress for its involvement in mind-blogging scams. Jethmalani, to my mind, is doing a great service.

I fully agree with you that the decline started with the nuclear bill.

Support then would have raised LKA's stature; contrived opposition to it and the shenanigans that followed showed him in very poor light and MMS as a man who could be trusted. A won battle was lost then itself, the margin made worse by Trojans who made sure it was turned into a battle between the two, Sonia placed above them both, Omerta in place.

Same goes for the Anna Hazare movement. After appearing to be on Anna's side, the BJP supported (but for one line) the dead and deceiving Lok Pal Bill produced by the Congress.

Gadkari is the icing on the cake of crap baked by Jailtley, Sushma and their supporters in BJP HQ.

These rootless, compromised leaders are going to lead BJP to ruin. Wonder why it does not worry -- scare actually -- the party that these guys have screwed it up so badly that, despite the many unpardonable 'sins' of Sonia and her team, they are nowhere on the popularity charts. That Sonia, MMS and even Rahul are more popular than them today is as damning an indictment of their performance and abilities and integrity as can be.

Unfortunately, they seem to be in no mood to give up the reins of the party. The RSS seems to be supporting them too. If that's correct, then Sonia will undoubtedly get another five years. If that happens, she will finish of the BJP-RSS challenge for good, and then play with smaller parties like toys. And the great plunder of India will continue.

The realignment is long overdue. The resistance is stiff because the stakes are high both for the Congress and BJP leaders who will be -- and deserve to be -- hit by it. I don't expect them to give in so easily or, worse, sincerely. Modi has to guard against both.

A Modi-Rahul contest will be a Tiger-Lamb affair, best efforts of media to help Rahul notwithstanding. And, yes, social media has and will play a stellar role in reversing the damage done by paid media.

You are dead right. Congress has been skillfully converting the electoral mandate against it into a post-poll alliance for it. As far as BJP is concerned, it has become a party with two faces. At the state level, it fights against the Congress but at the central level, in Parliament, its leadership covertly does what Mulayam, Maya and others do. The difference is that while in those parties, the leaders who get the seats call the shots, in BJP it is a coterie which can win nothing (LKA is no longer a vote catcher) which barters away hard won victories for its own benefit.

If this continues, there is every likelihood of Cong coming back to power, as you have mentioned. It is impossible to believe that BJP's leaders don't know it. And that is more worrying than anything else. Sonia can afford to be brazen.