Years ago, when i first came to UK and was coming out of Heathrow, an HSBC advertisement caught my attention...the message was 'Global Bank Local Culture'....
Since then, every time i looked at India and its federated polity and wondered why state after state was being captured by regional parties...importantly what could be the cure from national parties perspective...i was reminded of this message i had seen before....i felt 2 major national parties in India need to get this as a part of their startegy.....
Arun Jaitley's campaign strategy for Karnataka, i thought, was a clever mix of local culture (personified by B S Yedi) plus other issues such as betrayal, price rise etc...many people would recall NDTV corespondent repeatedly asking BJP leaders to explain the riddle about national party positioning and projecting itelf as a regional outfit-with BSY as its local Chieftain- in Karnataka.
I also think 'paanch karod Gujrati' stuff last year was no different....this strategy won him Gujarat last time and Karnataka this time around....
Question i have in mind is- Would Arun have similar 'mix' for MP, Chattisgarh and Rajasthan as well? or given these states have incumbent BJP Govts, he'd go for something different?......
