ISAS Briefs

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and many leaders of the country's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) recently visited Bhubaneswar, capital of the State of Odisha. Their objective was to prepare the ground for a successful campaign in the next State Assembly election in 2019. They hope to capitalise on the second place the party secured in the panchayat (local bodies) election held in February 2017. Despite the BJP's apparently burgeoning power base in the state, it seems difficult for the party to win the 2019 election due to the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) government's perceivably good performance in the state. However, the BJP's future in Odisha will also depend on several other factors such as the sustainability of the 'Modi wave' of popularity and the performance of the BJD government between now and the polling in 2019.