Should Modi fall short by a small margin, say he ends up with something like 230 seats and needs about 40 additional seats, he might be able to rope in the regional parties in Orissa, Telangana, and Tamilnadu, none of whom have shown much love for the Congress-led alliance.
But if the BJP-led NDA is closer to 200, then that will be read as a mandate against the Modi government, and then the BJP might be forced to sit in the opposition, likely leading to this being the final time Modi is Prime Minister. 2024 might throw up someone else like Gadkari as the BJP candidate for Prime Minister.
But if the BJP-led NDA is closer to 200, then that will be read as a mandate against the Modi government, and then the BJP might be forced to sit in the opposition, likely leading to this being the final time Modi is Prime Minister. 2024 might throw up someone else like Gadkari as the BJP candidate for Prime Minister.