I will commend @PrashantKishor to be very candid and honest about it. I don't think any sane person will say that Modi isn't popular. He is across India less in East, very less in South, big in west and HUGE in north and central part of India. Another thing is there is no (1/n) https://twitter.com/sambitswaraj/status/1380707347702681601

pan India leader who can take on him as of now. It's a bitter fact my friends in opposition may not like but it's true & so is the reason why there is difference of almost 250 LS seats between BJP & Cong which was very close in 90s until 2014 between two parties as both (2/n)

parties had leader of popularity which were comparable. Advani & V P Singh. Atal jee and Sonia G.

But mere popularity don't win you elections. That helps in winning when the ground is set.

In WB BJP don't have cadre compared to that with TMC.

Popularity isn't equally (3/n)

translating into foot falls. Even Modi's sabha in coochbehar was flop. Nadda and Shah's many have been. Ground reports suggest bjp hasn't done that well in first two round where they were supposed to.
Their booth management isn't very robust. At many places the booths are (4/n)

empty. Elections are won bottom up and not top down unless it's a sympathy wave like 1984 or TINA factor of 2019.

Popularity helps u win when you have cadre to support. (END)

@threadreaderapp unroll