Prime Minister Narendra Modi could be dropped after the 2019 election. The RSS is against his candidature after 2019. After winning the election a new leader could be elected with the consensus, that is the idea being mooted by the BJP leaders being proposed by RSS.
On the other hand, Shivasena which has clarified that they would contest all alone has proposed the name of Pranab Mukherjee for the post of PM as the candidate of the third front. It is to be ascertained if the Congress is also part of this front or not. There is no clarity on the Federal front proposed by KCR. Chandrababu the AP CM and Mamatha, Maya, Akhilesh, Tejeswi are leaning towards Congress.
It looks like there will be a three-cornered contest in 2019. The opposition will be divided into two groups one with the Congress and the other without Congress against the BJP. This is going to be advantage BJP in the end.
There are strong rumours that the 2019 elections will be fought under the leadership of Modi and later the RSS will propose for a change in leadership for the PM post. They say that it could be Nitin Gadkari for the top post.
It has to be seen what changes will take place in the next one year to come. The BJP and Modi are facing an issue by losing some of the by-elections and they are striving to win back the voters especially from the rural areas.
Demonetisation, GST has made a serious dent in the BJP vote bank and it will take a long time for getting back the credibility.
U.Srinivas
Editor
