The BJP would gain in this assembly election as at “the ground level people, especially youth, want change and their connect with Narendra Modi is high today”, says party national general secretary P Muralidhar Rao, who is in charge of party affairs in Karnataka and also handles Tamil Nadu.

Rao says, “there would be increase in votes and also in seats”.

He spoke about how the party is trying to strengthen association with linguistic minorities parties, which account for 35 to 40 percent of the total population in the state.

During 2014 lok sabha elections, the BJP with its alliance secured 19.5 percent vote in the state. But it could not hold on to its alliance partners in this assembly election.

Rao says, “That was parliamentary election and at that time regional parties did not have their personal stakes in that election. So they wanted to go with BJP as they had seen it as an alternative at national level. They felt that with the alliance they would become part of the winning game. That time they associated with us. But this is assembly election, and those parties too have their own ambition. They felt they are in conflict with either BJP or other party’s in alliance. So, it is not BJP’s inability to keep ties them.”

Rao adds, “Ultimately at the ground level people, especially youth, want change. And their connect with Narendra Modi is high today. The party is also working with various social communities, which were never close to BJP earlier. Percentage of people wanting an alternative is increasing. In that context, I feel by the end of this election result, BJP will emerge as alternative to the Dravidian parties. So, it will be a clear road for us in future.”

Rao feels that working in Kerala and showing its presence there was comparatively easier for the BJP.

“In Kerala, the situation is different. There was no confusion amongst people as far as BJP is concerned. Even the party had more clarity working in that state. In times of need, our leaders from centre came and interacted with Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa. People started speculating about alliance and closeness of the two parties. We could not have avoided this.

“However, there was clarity in Kerala as Congress (the party in power) and Left (the opposition party) are opposed to the BJP. In this state, however, Jayalalithaa did not oppose the BJP in lok sabha and rajya sabha.  There was a limitation for Tamil Nadu unit of BJP. On account of that if we have some problem, we have to face it,” he admits.