more forays into blogging - the end of the road?

Just got started with bloggar - thanks to prashant mullick ... this is the first one posted using bloggar.

meanwhile, vote counting is in full swing in India - with some surprising trends. desi blogs all over are talking about the same thing - how a surprising turn of events is unfolding with the congress, far from losing miserably, is actually leading in more constituencies than the BJP. No reason why I shouldn't jump on the bandwagon ... I wondered yesterday whether the time had come for Prime Minister Vajapayee to hang his boots and retire ... And looks like that is what he might have to do. It is likely that if the BJP/NDA does not come to power for another term, this will be the end of the road for him, after a long and glorious career spanning from the Quit India Movement to becoming the first guy to address the UN General Assembly in hindi to being the one to put India on the nuclear bus in his brief 13 day first stint as PM, and then a full term as PM - with a near war against Pakistan ... the thaw in relations and last but not the least, a cricket tour of Pakistan

Before the polls, everyone seemed so sure that barring a major disaster, there would be nothing to stop the BJP coming back to power for another term. What went wrong then ? Perhaps the "India Shining" mantra was not true, and the people saw through the facade? But the economy was booming, and the government was sure that an early election was their best chance of re-election. I suspect (based on info I get from the web, and hearsay) that the common man revolted against the effects that capitalism has brought - the urban population moves ahead, while the rest of the country struggles to keep pace (may be I am wrong, and sitting here in the US really does not give a true picture? in that case drop a comment to correct me!), the growth and improvement is not percolating down to the grass roots? somewhere in the future, historians will draw a line and say - this is where the BJP failed, can we do it today? if we can, I certainly would like to know ....