Why the Constitution Club fight matters in Indian politics

The Constitution Club of India — a club dedicated to Members of Parliament (who don’t have enough privileges already) and other members such as top officials and judges, located in Lutyens’ Delhi — went to the polls recently. And, it was a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) versus BJP fight between Rajiv Pratap Rudy, BJP veteran and Member of Parliament from Saran (and also a commercial pilot), and Sanjeev Balyan, two-term BJP MP.

The fight for the Constitution Club, some leaders say, was more keenly contested than many a battle for the Lok Sabha elections. At this point, my beloved readers of SWAT Analysis must be mystified: why should a club election concern and detain us at all? Because it is a huge pointer to two things: one, the opaque politics of internal BJP which is constantly guarded from journalistic scrutiny, and two, how the opposition, when it gets its act together, can actually pull off a coup against the hyper-dominant BJP.