Rahul Gandhi’s new ‘avatar’ is compelling the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to rework its election strategy. The BJP has realised that the Congress party under Rahul Gandhi, would be different this time. It will be a serious challenger to Prime Minister Narendra Modi who wants a third term in office at any cost, literally.

The change in the BJP is visible. It has almost stopped calling Rahul Gandhi “Pappu”, or “Baba” and is now thinking twice before attacking him with choice epithets like ‘dynast’ and ‘naamdar’. Instead, the BJP and the ‘government managers’ are reacting to the agenda set by Rahul Gandhi.

Rahul Gandhi may or may not be a prime ministerial face of the Opposition but he is consistent, sharp in his attack on Narendra Modi inside and outside of Parliament. This comes at a time when the BJP is fighting with the Congress and the regional parties simultaneously.

The BJP cannot talk of a clean government as corruption commission was the major issue that led to its debacle in the Karnataka Assembly elections. Besides, it cannot certify its new ruling ally, the Eknath Shinde led Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, as a clean party.

The Budget Session of Parliament was washed out on the Adani issue. It had questioned the government's claim of probity, corruption free administration. This has made Rahul Gandhi as the prime target of the establishment.

Strange it may sound, but the strategy adopted by PM Modi for the past ten years to show Rahul as ‘dumb’, ‘dim-witted’ and ‘a bit challenged’ is boomeranging with telling effect.

Everybody who is anybody in the political field understands that, except the PM. Modi has kept up the attack as if it is ‘business as usual’. Some bhakts too are too blinded by the leader.

Rahul Gandhi emerged as a tough leader after he undertook the Bharat Jodo Yatra from Kanyakumari to Kashmir. The PM was almost silent on the Yatra when it was undertaken.

The Yatra made Rahul Gandhi a leader and the main challenger. Now, the BJP can neither afford to ignore him nor question his Indianness, nationalism after realising that the rules of the game are changing.

The Congress will continue to remain as the main Opposition and the key challenger to Narendra Modi. This is despite division in the Opposition, for the simple reason that the two national parties have been the main players in the electoral battle in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Assam, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, and Himachal Pradesh.

Besides, the Congress cannot be ignored in Kerala, Maharashtra, Telangana, Punjab ,Jammu and Kashmir.

The BJP is finding it difficult to weaken the ‘new’ Rahul Gandhi by disqualifying his Lok Sabha membership on the basis of a court judgement, vacating him from his official bungalow and reducing his security cover.

His no holds barred attack on the Prime Minister, and asking a series of questions on the controversial Adani in Parliament ,was the most awkward moment for Modi in the last nine years. This was too much for the PM who rules with an iron hand.

Rahul Gandhi’s speech was expunged, he was not even not allowed to respond to attacks from three senior Union Ministers in Parliament in the wake of his visit to London.

But this strategy is proving counterproductive for the BJP by the day.

The world’s largest party lost power in the key states of Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh despite pouring in a lot of men and material into the campaign. It was like a David Vs Goliath battle.

The BJP has painfully realised that the coming Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh are going to be equally tough for it due to the infighting in the rank and file. Rahul Gandhi has famously predicted sometime back that Congress will win at least 150 seats out of a total of 230 in MP.

The BJP once proudly called itself “the party with a difference” but has now turned into a party with differences.

The BJP’s major problem is Rahul Gandhi, more than the Congress. This is because Gandhi’s frontal attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP and RSS is reviving the fighting spirit in the Congress which has been out of power at the Centre since 2014 and currently ruling in four states.

Rahul Gandhi’s new ‘avtar’ is obviously disturbing the BJP which could upset its poll prospects if he plays his cards tactfully in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Telangana and Delhi. The BJP’s ‘Chanakya’ has realised that the battle for the Lok Sabha in early next year would be different from 2014 and 2019 in letter and spirit.

This is because the BJP is fighting on many fronts simultaneously. Interestingly, its current friendly parties in Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar are also suspicious about BJP’s motives.

The BJP’s Hindutva (Bajarang Bali) plank did not work in Karnataka despite its attempts to make it a Hindutva laboratory after Gujarat. And the defeat there made it shaky, compelling it to rely on the state leaders.

The BJP high command is now keeping former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje in good humour. It has virtually announced that the party would fight the Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls under the leadership of chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan who has never been seen as a Modi acolyte like Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis or Gujarat chief minister Bhupendra Patel are.

Although it will be too early to predict whether the tough, uncompromising Rahul Gandhi is setting the tone for the Lok Sabha battle, his grip over the party organisation, meeting with ‘anti-BJP’ leaders and growing presence in the social media can make the BJP cautious.

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