The BJP’s winning streak after the slight dip in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections has been marked by a pattern that is good news for the party and bad news for the Opposition: the growing instances of the BJP triumphing over regional forces. Even after the emphatic victory of the BJP in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections under Narendra Modi, the party was not in a position to take on the powerful regional parties, even as it outscored the Congress in direct electoral contests. In fact, allies of the Congress felt that while they were giving the BJP a fight on their turf, the Congress was losing out in direct fights with the saffron party. “We have seen many times that when there is a direct fight between the BJP and the Congress, the Congress loses,” Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi said in 2024.…