Goa:
At two BJP national executive meetings in Goa, 11 years apart,
Narendra Modi has overcome massive opposition to win. The actors were the same, but the positions were different and so were the stakes.
April 2002, BJP national executive in Goa: The party, then in power at the Centre, had gathered to discuss elections. But discussions about Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, 52, overwhelmed all else.
Barely a month had passed since the communal riots of 2002 and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was reportedly clear that Mr Modi could not continue as Gujarat Chief Minister. As PM, Mr Vajpayee presided over a ruling alliance of over 20 parties, among them, then Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu's Telugu Desam Party or TDP. Mr Naidu had made it clear that he would find it difficult to continue partnering the BJP if Mr Modi was not removed.
Mr Modi's job was saved by his mentor LK Advani that year. The TDP was told it had no business telling the BJP who its Chief Minister should be.
Months later Mr Modi posted the first in a series of spectacular and consecutive electoral victories in Gujarat that would make him the BJP's most successful vote-catcher.
June 2103, BJP national executive in Goa: The BJP gathered to discuss elections. But discussions about Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, 62, overwhelmed all else.
Narendra Modi has been appointed chairman of the BJP's election strategy committee. A step away, say ardent supporters in the party, from potentially being named the party's candidate for Prime Minister next year.
This time it is LK Advani, now 85, who made every effort to ensure that the promotion did not happen, including staying away from a national executive meet for the first time since the BJP was formed. He had got his way in 2002, but was over-ruled this time in what many say is a sign that an era has passed.
There are more striking parallels. The BJP has just sent word to another ally, another Chief Minister, Bihar's Nitish Kumar, that it will not accept aspersions on the secular credentials of Mr Modi. 11 years later, it is still the 2002 riots that cast a shadow on Mr Modi's career.