Mayawati-SP Combine May Pose Real Challenge For BJP: Rajdeep Sardesai

From zero in 2014 to at least six states in the North-East, the Bharatiya Janata Party has emerged as the dominant force in the seven sisters' region.

So, what does the party's near domination in the North-East mean for national politics and will it influence the outcome in the upcoming elections in Karnataka? Should regional leaders like Mamata Banerjee and Naveen Patnaik be worried?

Veteran journalist and consulting editor at the India Today group Rajdeep Sardesai believes the North-East win is more of a psychological boost for the BJP. “The Congress desperately now needs to win Karnataka to have some momentum going into winter state elections in north and central part of the country and then into 2019,” Sardesai said, in an interview to BloombergQuint.

The more significant political development over the weekend, according to him, was Bahujan Samaj Party Chief Mayawati offering support to long-time rival Samajwadi Party for the two Lok Sabha by-elections in Uttar Pradesh, to be held on March 11. Sardesai said the possibility of a formal tie-up between Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav could pose a real challenge for the BJP in India's largest state, which sends 80 members to the Lok Sabha. The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance had won 73 of those seats in the 2014 general election.