The BJP's clarion call for 'Shatpratishat Bhajapa' (absolute BJP) has gone off target. Firstly, the claim, when consistently made, appeared tall. Yet the party leadership didn't mind pursuing it till it realised the hyperbole. But, it was too late to reverse the undoing. The BJP's indifference to certain issues created most of the fault lines that a seasoned opponent like Sharad Pawar used for his party's benefit, while a subdued Congress grabbed the much-needed leverage that Pawar provided. The BJP's ally Shiv Sena reduced its strength but landed itself in a position that the BJP had never expected. The drama of bargaining will continue until the saffron allies reach an agreement on sharing power. They cannot afford to stall forming a government that a collective mandate demands be run amicably for the welfare of the people or perish.

BJP's flawed homework

It now emerges that the BJP's homework was flawed way beyond local equations. The internal surveys – the state's, central unit's and the party's national president's own – created more blunders than expected in distributing tickets between turncoats and BJP's internal competitors, who had worked hard on cultivating their constituencies.