India, Jan. 1 -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi faces the challenge of taking his party back to winning ways in the politically most crucial state of the country in the 2027 assembly elections, about three years after the BJP's less than expected performance in Uttar Pradesh in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. In 2026, the Modi-led National Democratic Alliance is likely to counter opposition offensive with a number of development and welfare schemes to regain lost ground before the make-or-break 2027 polls. Causing an upset in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Opposition INDIA bloc bagged 43 seats - 37 going to the Samajwadi Party and six to the Congress. The NDA finished second with 36 seats in Uttar Pradesh - 33 bagged by the BJP, two by the Rashtriya Lok Dal and one by the Apna Dal (Sonelal). Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) leader Chandra Shekhar, who was not in either the NDA or INDIA camp, won the Nagina Lok Sabha seat. Now, the BJP has its task cut out as the party goes all out to retain power in the 2027 assembly election. The BJP had won a second successive term in Uttar Pradesh in 2022 with Yogi retaining power with a thumping majority. The BJP alone got 255 seats, while its ally Apna Dal (S) and NISHAD party bagged 12 and 6 seats respectively. This win came five years after the BJP's landslide victory in the 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. There were big wins for the party in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls too. Once again, all eyes will be on Modi as his decision to contest the Varanasi seat in 2014 set the stage for the saffron resurgence in Uttar Pradesh....