New Delhi, March 22 -- Traditionally, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been perceived as a North Indian party, with limited influence beyond the Hindi-speaking states. While the party has done much to change this perception, notching up a host of victories in the country's North-East, the South Indian states remain its Achilles heel. Even in 2014, when the BJP swept the Lok Sabha elections, it won a mere 21 seats in the five southern states, or 19% of the 112 seats on offer. By contrast, in the rest of the country, the BJP won 60% of seats on offer (chart 1). Not only has the number of southern seats won by the BJP remained constant, the party has also failed to expand beyond its traditional strongholds in Karnataka. A comparison betwee...