Gandhinagar: Narendra Modi, the man expected to be India's next prime minister, is spending the morning at his residence in Gandhinagar in his home state of Gujarat.
Mr Modi, 63, will find out by 1 pm today if his BJP and its allies have cleared the 272-seat mark needed for him to form the government. Sources close to him say he is unlikely to leave his home till the results are clear. He may then visit his mother at her house before heading for a rally to Vadodara, one of the two constituencies from where he is running for Parliament. (
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On the campaign trail, in speeches often laden with sarcasm and barbs for the Gandhis who lead the incumbent Congress, Mr Modi has promised to clean up the corruption-wracked government. (
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A talented orator and master of communication -- he has appeared as a hologram at simultaneous political rallies -- he has avoided right-wing rhetoric in his speeches and focused on vowing to resuscitate the economy and create jobs.
"I actually consider myself an outsider not only to Delhi politics but to politics
per se," he told a newspaper this month. (
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A yoga-lover and strict vegetarian who is said to always eat alone, Mr Modi is steeped in the ideology of Hindu nationalism, having joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) as a boy.
After an arranged marriage at the age of 17, he left his wife, Jashodaben, after three years, during which they reportedly spent some three months together. He lives alone at his residence in Gujarat, taking great pride in a large collection of birds which he feeds every day. (
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As a young adult, he is believed to have wandered in the Himalayas in a journey of spiritual discovery, returning to plunge into the RSS and politics in which he earned an early reputation as a formidable organiser.
During this election, Mr Modi, 63 has contrasted his humble past as the low-caste son of a tea seller with Mr Gandhi's privileged and cloistered life in plush districts of Delhi.
Critics accuse him of not acting swiftly or decisively enough to check the communal violence that tore through Gujarat in 2002, leaving more than a thousand people dead, most of them Muslims. A Supreme Court investigation found no case against him and he denies wrongdoing.
But his refusal to apologise and his decision to appoint a woman to his cabinet who was later found guilty of orchestrating some of the worst of the killing have been used against him by detractors.
The United States and European powers boycotted him for more than a decade. (
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"Those asking for an apology wanted the apology to be an act of confession," senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley told foreign journalists recently as he reminded them that Mr Modi had been investigated and cleared.
Mr Jaitley said he believed Indians had moved on from the issue and are now focusing on Modi's record as a business-friendly administrator during his 13 years running Gujarat as chief minister.
He has many fans in corporate India -- including the country's richest family, the Ambanis -- and foreign behemoths such as Ford have praised his government as efficient and clean.
Between 2005 and 2012, Gujarat recorded average annual growth rates of 10.13 per cent, the second-highest pace among large or medium-sized states, official data shows.
But critics note a lack of progress on human development indicators during Mr Modi's rule, saying his cosy relationship with industrialists amounts to crony capitalism, and also scoff at his governance record.
The state failed to appoint an anti-corruption ombudsman for nearly a decade until 2013, and one of his closest aides, Amit Shah, faces murder and extortion charges dating to his time as home minister.
His "strong" leadership is a result of his ruthless centralisation of power which tips into authoritarianism whenever he is challenged, they say.
Minister Jairam Ramesh dubbed him India's "first authentic fascist" last year and his habit of speaking of himself in the third person and frequently referring to his own "56-inch chest" has raised allegations of megalomania. (
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