Bihar election results: Murmurs in BJP that Amit Shah will be proxy target

The BJP's massive defeat in Bihar has set off murmurs of dissent in the party, with two MPs, Shatrughan Sinha and Chandan Mitra, questioning the campaign strategy of party president Amit Shah.

A "rejection of BJP's high-pitched campaign" is how Mitra described the Bihar loss. Another MP, R K Singh, reiterated his unhappiness over tickets being given to criminals. ​Dissidents, chafing at Mod's iron-grip on the party, may be tempted to target his confidante, Shah.

Sinha, who's been a dissident for a while, now, put out a volley of tweets criticizing the BJP's Bihar campaign. He later told TV channels that a captain who gets praised for success ought to bear the responsibility for defeat too.

For now, these may just be isolated voices. Sinha and Singh have expressed their unhappiness before as well. Still, by going public on a day when the party is still licking its wounds, they have underlined the scrutiny that PM Narendra Modi and Shah can expect. The Shiv Sena, a BJP ally, went as far as to call Nitish a "hero" and blamed the defeat on "arrogance".

Modi's authority in the party is derived from his vote-gathering ability. With the Bihar results raising question about that ability, Modi will be under pressure to deliver on priorities and key governance themes, even as the long march to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls now begins.

Still, last week Home Minister Rajnath Singh categorically told TOI that the Bihar election results won't have any bearing on the post of the party president. "Naya term milega (He will get a fresh term)," he said.

The minister added that there is no "logic" in linking assembly elections to the national president of the party. "Even when I was party president, the party won and lost assembly elections. But I was not evaluated on that basis (assembly election results). Party presidents complete their tenures," Rajnath said.

As for the opposition, it's now revitalized and it will make things tough, beginning with sharper protests on 'growing intolerance'. The question is, can Modi make course corrections and refocus his energies in time?