Power play

The blackout in almost half the country due to grid failure has made the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) very happy. That’s because the western grid was completely unaffected. The western grid consists of five states: Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Barring the first, all the other states are ruled by the BJP. The party’s managers claim that the grid was unaffected because BJP-ruled states are much more disciplined and avoid overdrawing. But the party’s problem is how to encash this advantage with voters. A senior party functionary in Chhattisgarh explained that though grid discipline was a big deal, the party will find it difficult to leverage it with voters. That’s because it involves explaining the concepts of a power grid, overdrawing and grid discipline before claiming that the party has succeeded in each of these parameters.