The drubbing that the Bharatiya Janata Party got in the Delhi assembly polls is unlikely to dent Narendra Modi's or Amit Shah's political capital, but it has emboldened the dissidents.
Both within the party, and without, both allies and Opposition, those opposed to Prime Minister Modi and BJP President Shah, so long silenced by the juggernaut of electoral victories, seem to have got a shot in the arm.
In the past 48 hours -- since the Delhi poll results were declared reducing the BJP to an insignificant minority with three seats out of 70 in the Assembly -- trouble has reared its head all over the country.
Anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare -- once the mentor of Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal, who won a thumping majority in Delhi -- has threatened to launch a campaign against Modi’s government; K N Govindacharya, a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leader, has stepped up his criticism of the National Democratic Alliance government.
The BJP is also facing trouble in states where it has governments -- Haryana and Maharashtra. In the former, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has been trying to placate ministerial colleagues. In the latter, ally Shiv Sena has criticised the government. In Punjab, clashes have been reported between workers of Shiromani Akali Dal and the BJP.
Khattar, whom Modi had handpicked, is facing the heat from his colleagues Anil
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