Narendra Modi during his rally in Alwar
Narendra Modi, on a whirlwind visit to campaign in many parts of election-bound Rajasthan today, predicted the return of his party the BJP in the state, promising to stun the ruling Congress.
The BJP's prime ministerial candidate used a colloquial idiom that translated to, "I have taken on the onus of ensuring the Congress sees stars in the day," at a rally in Bharatpur, ripping into Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot who, he alleged, did not even enjoy the confidence of Congress number 2 Rahul Gandhi. "Even Shehzada doesn't have faith in Gehlot," he alleged.
Minutes later Rahul Gandhi, also campaigning in Rajasthan, asserted he was "happy with the Gehlot government" in the state.
Mr Modi, who is the chief minister of neighbouring Gujarat, compared Rajasthan unfavourably to his state. He claimed that while he had provisioned for enough water in Gujarat, large parts of Rajasthan faced an acute shortage. "The geography of Rajasthan and Gujarat is almost similar. I have laid long pipelines to make water available till the Pakistan border... These pipes are so big that Gehlotji and his family can travel in them in a Maruti car," Mr Modi observed.
As he is wont to do, Mr Modi also attacked Rahul Gandhi at each of his rallies. In Alwar, he taunted the Congress leader with a comparison of crowds at their respective rallies. "There are rallies where people are told 'stop, don't go; stop, don't go'. And there are rallies where I have to apologise to people because they could not see me," Mr Modi said in an apparent reference to a Rahul rally in Delhi recently.
In Sawai Madhopur, he mimicked Mr Gandhi as he said, "Shehzada says BJP chor hai. Is this the language of democracy? Is this decency?"