Saffron spread shrinking: What does 2019 now look like for the BJP

New Delhi, Dec 12: The Hindi heartland in all has a total of 273 Lok Sabha seats of which the BJP holds 226 along with its allies.

This is a major chunk of the seats and if one were to go by the results in the Hindi heartland of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, then there is a real cause for concern for the BJP in 2019.

If one takes into account the verdict in these three states and also if the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party come together in Uttar Pradesh, then there is a possibility of the BJP being down by nearly 100 seats, if the current trends were to continue in 2019.

Down south too the BJP will have it tough. The performance of the BJP in Telangana is nothing to speak about and the party ended up with just 1 seat. The JD(S)-Congress combine in Karnataka, where the BJP is in with its best chance in south also would pose a major problem for the party in 2019.

In states like Tamil Nadu or Kerala, the BJP is not really in with any much chance. Further in West Bengal, the party cannot say that it would be able to make major inroads, with Mamata Banerjee taking the fight to the BJP.

The Congress on the other hand would go all guns blazing in states like MP, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. It appears to be closing experience over youth in MP and Rajasthan, so that it can take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2019. Ashok Gehlot for instance has proven his mettle in Gujarat when he was in charge of the Congress campaign.

Considering that Rajasthan is his home state, he is expected to perform much better in 2019. The same could be said of Kamal Nath in MP too.

In states such as UP and West Bengal, the Congress would let parties such as BSP, SP and TMC do its work to reduce the BJP's margin further.