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Sending signals to bureaucracy

It has an entire floor devoted to the party president’s office and is equipped with state-of-the-art convention and meeting facilities.

Sending signals to bureaucracy

This was a signal to the bureaucracy that Modi will be prime minister again and he means business. (Image: Facebook/@BJP4India)

Narendra Modi was so confident of winning a second term that his PMO had started preparing for it long before exit polls forecast his stunning victory.

In fact, preparations began in the last leg of the election campaign before the seventh phase of polling. The PMO issued instructions to all ministries to draft a 100-day action plan which would be implemented from June 1.

The orders were sent directly to all secretaries and joint secretaries as is the practice in the Modi government. This was a signal to the bureaucracy that Modi will be prime minister again and he means business. Meanwhile, a guest list for the swearing in ceremony was sent to Rashtrapati Bhavan and the President’s office was requested to start working on invitations.

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Bureaucrats who have worked with previous governments say they cannot recall this level of confidence and activity in anticipation of a positive result. For instance, in the famous India Shining election of 2004 which the BJP lost despite exit poll predictions to the contrary, Vajpayee’s PMO confined itself to routine work.

Vajpayee himself had indicated to those who met him the days before the results that he did not expect the BJP to win.

In expansion mode

In keeping with its newly acquired status as the pre-dominant political party in the country, the BJP is all set to expand its headquarters in Delhi.

It has already acquired a two-acre plot next to its current office on Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg in the heart of the Capital. Party sources say construction will begin soon. Its present office is also new. The party shifted from Ashoka Road to this spanking new multi-storeyed building in February 2018.

It has an entire floor devoted to the party president’s office and is equipped with state-of-the-art convention and meeting facilities. With 1.70 lakh square feet of built up area, the BJP office boasts of being the largest party office in the world. And now it is set to get even bigger to match its enlarging footprint in India.

Congress in panic

After its decimation in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, the Congress is in deep panic over the future of its governments in these states. All three are shaky because they are dependent on support from others.

Party circles are bracing themselves for the fall of their coalition government in Karnataka almost immediately. The government was tottering anyway with state Congress leaders and JD(S) leaders taking pot shots at each other. Panic levels in the Congress rose after one of its MLAs quit to join the BJP.

He was given a ticket to contest the Lok Sabha election and he has won. Alarm bells rang madly after a senior leader made critical noises against the party high command. The BJP has, of course, made no secret about its desire to topple the Congress-JD(S) government. In fact, former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa said that the government has no moral right to continue after the coalition’s rout in the Lok Sabha poll.

There is equal worry about the MP government which survives on outside support from SP and BSP. With Kamal Nath under the ED/IT scanner following raids on his aides, Congress circles are bracing themselves for an ambush in the state.

The BJP in MP has already announced its intention of moving a noconfidence motion in the assembly. Former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan is waiting in the wings to get back in power. And he has earned his spurs with the BJP’s spectacular performance in the Lok Sabha election. The party got one seat more than 2014, defeating Jyotiraditya Scindia in his fiefdom of Guna.

The Congress can draw some comfort from the possibility that the BJP may not close in immediately on its government in Rajasthan. But that’s only because the BJP’s top duo of Modi and Amit Shah do not favour reinstalling Vasundhara Raje as chief minister in the state.

Choice of vehicle

When Narendra Modi pulled up at the BJP headquarters for a victory rally after the results were announced, many were surprised by his dramatic entry. First of all, he drew up in a Range Rover instead of the BMW that is the official PM car.

It seems Modi has chosen an SUV for party functions where mass connect is primary. The Range Rover gives him heft. And he has had a special spotlight installed in the front seat that lights him up at night so that he is visible to the crowd waiting for him.

Actually, it was late Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa who thought up the idea of a spotlight on the face for adoring crowds to catch a glimpse of their Amma.

Modi has taken a leaf out of her book to please his fan following which is no less adoring than Jaya’s was. It may be remembered that Modi used SUVs when he was chief minister in Gujarat. He switched to BMWs when he became PM. But he understands the powerful symbolism of presenting himself appropriately to a waiting political audience.

The SUV gives him that, a lowslung sedan does not. The BMWs replaced the trusty old Ambassador car as the PM’s vehicle during Manmohan Singh’s tenure. Sources say Modi uses the BMW for formal official events. For instance, he drove to Parliament for the NDA meeting in the sedan.

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