India, May 14 -- High-intensity poll-eve rows, particularly involving corruption and sleaze allegations, are a known phenomenon in Indian electoral history. This has become more pronounced during the last decade, with even top leaders indulging in no-holds-barred personalised attacks, and allegations of corruption at high places becoming a familiar theme.

However, by and large, this has been a one-way traffic, with the ruling BJP-led National Democratic Alliance having the upper hand. The strategy of treating political rivals as enemies - also a relatively new concept in over seven decades of the country's democratic history - and fixing them using the might of statecraft, squarely to win elections, has become increasingly visible. By ho...