time he came to Ahmedabad in 2014 and laid siege to the road that led to then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi's office and more or less baited him for his uneven record of development in the state. That tension was confirmed during the Varanasi election in May 2014 and followed by the Delhi elections in early 2015 when Modi and Kejriwal were direct antagonists.

This pattern of rivalry between Modi and Kejriwal is finding its latest articulation in the recent CBI raid against Kejriwal's aide, observers say.

As for Modi, whose permission it is widely believed to have been sought-and in politics perception is everything, said AAP leader Ashutosh-before the raid was carried out, the tension between the BJP and the opposition has suddenly become much sharper. Just likethe monsoon session of parliament, the winter session will also end with no bills passed. The bitterness will likely be exacerbated during the election campaigns for the states of West Bengal, Assam and Tamil Nadu in 2016 and further in the campaigns for Punjab and Uttar Pradesh in 2017.

Courtesy and polite language has been a casualty for some time already, but the raid on Rajendra Kumar marked a new low. While Kejriwal described the prime minister as a "psychopath", Arun Jaitley insisted he would not stoop to comment on "rubbish", to which Kejriwal said he was "lying". While in Kerala, Modi told a rally that the Congress seemed hell-bent on following a set of D-words-destruct, demolish and destroy, thereby disabling Parliament.

With the polity so bitterly divided, Parliament will