As the Congress implodes, the BJP is certain to see that dealing a critical blow to the first family is the easiest route to replacing the Congress as the natural party of governance, sealing the party's prospects in the 2019 elections.

Narendra Modi's campaign trail jibes against 'Sonia madam' and the 'maa-beta sarkar' have transformed now into a more systematic attack, starting with the National Herald case in which the Congress party president and vice-president are both facing heat from I-T investigations. The salvos are being aimed at a time when the Congress party appears to be imploding, besieged by mutinies across the country.

The question then is the Congress party's decline permanent? And is the BJP poised to replace it as the "natural party of governance", as an op-ed column in The Indian Express written by Lokniti-CSDS scholars Pradeep Chhibber ,Rahul Verma put it? It is certainly the primary goal of Narendra Modi who has already asked for mandate for the next ten years.

One criterion of becoming the dominant national party is to maintain a national presence -- which has been challenge for the BJP in the past. It is why Narendra Modi has been visiting poll-bound Maharashtra and strategising toward party-building activities in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. Establishing a strong record of governance is the other challenge: a long and complex process of doing and undoing that everyone agrees will take many years before results will be seen.

The more interesting contention made by the authors is their take on how the BJP can deal a debilitating blow to the Congress, a final attack in coming months to build a fail-safe, goof-proof case for its own prospects in the 2019 elections.

And the way to do this, the article says, is to "create conditions for the disintegration of the Congress’s organisation", i.e. the first family of the party.

"The dynasty is the glue that holds together the various local and state factions (and the national-level coterie) that compose the Congress party. If the dynasty goes, it’s likely that the Congress will fragment and no longer be able to present itself as a party that can win a national election and govern India in future. This would provide the possibility for the BJP to present itself as the only national party capable of governing from Delhi," the authors argue.

They note, however, that Modi has been rather less chary of launching a full-frontal attack on the Gandhis than the previous NDA regime under Vajpayee. Notwithstanding the warmth and grace he displayed vis-a-vis Sonia and Rahul at his swearing-in and during the first few days of the 16th Lok Sabha, Modi actually did the unthinkable repeatedly through the election campaign. He insisted upon a real fight for Amethi and Rae Bareily, cocking a snook at a tradition of fielding lightweights against the leaders of the opposing party. In Amethi, in fact, Rahul had quite a scare before scraping through with a truncated margin. Modi himself campaigned in Amethi, again an unprecedented lack of election-time munificence in favour of rival leaders.

So, will there be more National Heralds? Possibly, given that the authors say this undermining of the Congress dynasty is by far the easiest of routes to an electoral victory in 2019. If he is serious about going after the Gandhis, then Robert Vadra would be the next natural target on Modi's list.

Mail Today reported yesterday that Sonia and Priyanka Gandhi recently met Natwar Singh, former external affairs minister for about an hour, possibly to preempt another set of damaging revelations in a tell-all book. If Sanjaya Baru's book led to the discomfiture of some senior UPA leaders, Natwar Singh's account (One Life Is Not Enough, to be released on August 7 by former Attorney General Soli Sorabjee at the India International Centre) is reportedly being called the "N-bomb". Doubtless, this is only the start of what will be a flood of bad news for the Gandhis. After all, the time is opportune and the faultlines are already showing in the Congress edifice.

Rahul's fortunes are not rising, and the Congress party's caucus of sycophants has reportedly regrouped around Sonia. A report in The Telegraph points out that while senior leaders have begun to grumble about Rahul's style and would like him to tone down the talk of a revolutionary new party and instead fall in line with the "Congress culture", these leaders too are hardly in a rebellious mood. "They accept that only Sonia is capable of turning around the party and also have no quarrel with the succession plan," the report says.

An Economic Times report says Sonia is still silent on the road ahead, possibly still coming to terms with the extent of the Lok Sabha elections defeat. The report calls party president Sonia Gandhi "the glue that holds India's Grand Old Party together".

Saroj Nagi has also argued on Firstpost that Congress leaders privately admit that the recent developments, the rebellions in Maharashtra and Assam for example, are a sign of decreasing confidence in the Congress vice president and that the fissures and cracks pose serious dangers for the survival of the party. "The brave front it has put on aside, the Congress has real reason to worry that the state leaders have begun to defy and question the decision of the high command. There are apprehensions that the example set by them could be followed by the disgruntled sections in other state units. Should that happen, it would spell the endgame for the Congress and Rahul," Nagi wrote.

If that is case then Narendra Modi may not have to do very much more than wait.