Chennai: Departing from the industry trend of relying on private political consultants, the BJP opted for an in-house, RSS-backed consultancy group, Varahe Analytics, to handle its strategy for the 2026 Tamil Nadu assembly elections.The organisation, which assumed charge of coordinating the party’s electoral strategy in the state,operates under supervision of Union home minister Amit Shah. It was founded in 2021. Rangesh Sridhar, who was closely associated with the BJP since 2014, heads Varahe’s activities across TN and 17 other states. The core unit comprises RSS functionaries along with young professionals from diverse backgrounds, including lawyers, engineers and social science graduates. BJP leaders said Varahe keeps track of the performance of BJP functionaries and updates the central leadership. The organisation prepares data-based reports for senior leaders, and handles research and digital outreach. “They suggest information that could be shared with the media as well as representatives who could appear on TV debates,” said a senior BJP functionary.Sources said the team also works with micro-influencers and social media pages that circulate videos online. In recent days, Varahe distributed AI-generated clips portraying the friction between DMK and Congress leaders on power sharing. As far as ground-level work was concerned, the agency’s efforts are centred on about 45 constituencies, a number likely to narrow to around 35 once seat-sharing talks conclude, say BJP leaders.BJP used Varahe in 2024 Lok Sabha polls, too in TN, which resulted in limited success. This is the first time time, the agency has been roped in for an assembly election, which requires a more elaborate work. A senior BJP leader who works with the team said structural and tactical gaps — particularly inadequate grassroots manpower to execute strategic inputs — had affected the outcome in 2024. “A broader alliance now has strengthened our prospects,” he said.
