Akhilesh Tambe surged with vitality as he looked down at the gathering of over one lakh people from the helicopter. As the thud of the rotors overcame the noise of the crowd, all heads turned skyward. To the horde of devout followers gathered there, he was a messiah descending from the heavens to end their suffering.

In the two years since his discussion with Behram, everything had fallen into place. The party and the samaj, the group of workers that supported the party, had aligned to nominate him as their prime ministerial candidate. The money promised by Behram had flown into the party’s coffers, most of it in cash sourced by the businessman, to enable the party to get around the Election Commission’s rules on expenditure. Behram continued to work hard behind the scenes, smoothing over

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