Bangalore : Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday expressed confidence that people of the state would delink internal squabbles witnessed in the state BJP from the good governance delivered during the last five years.

He hoped that the people of Karnataka would give the BJP a second term. Addressing a jam-packed National College Grounds here, Modi likened the situation in the state BJP to that of his home state in the late 1990s and stated that the people voted the BJP back to power with a resounding majority as the party, despite its internal bickering, had performed well in governance and administration of Gujarat.

“The BJP government was elected in Gujarat in 1995 by a two-thirds majority. However, due to internal differences in the party we had to change chief ministers four times in five years. There was a talk about the BJP being routed.

“But the government was successful in delivering developmental programmes to the people. We were voted back to power. We promised people that we had learnt from our mistakes and will not repeat them. It’s been 12 years now and we are still in power with the blessings of the people,” Modi said.

Modi said Karnataka, too, was at the same crossroads like Gujarat and stated that the government would be voted for a second term given the developmental works taken up during its tenure.

Modi held sway over people with his oratory skills. Soon after the arrival of Modi, BJP national general secretary Ananth Kumar stood to speak and the crowd chanted “Modi, Modi,” urging the Gujarat leader to start his speech. The chant continued inspite of Home Minister R Ashoka’s plea that Kumar and Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar be allowed to speak at least for five minutes. The crowd relented after Modi told them that he had come all the way from Ahmedabad to listen to Shettar and Kumar.

Targeting the state Congress for not announcing its chief ministerial candidate, Modi said: “You are showing only your hand but not your face. Without seeing the face people will not be able to make out whether the hand is of a saviour or destroyer”.

Modi devoted a major part of his hard hitting speech targeting the Congress in general and Congress national vice-president Rahul Gandhi, who he repeatedly referred to as the “person born with the golden spoon”.  In the few hours he spent in Bangalore, Modi did his best to hardsell the party to the people. He, however, did not mention former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa even once throughout his address.

He ridiculed the Congress for not being in a position to protect the safety of women in a small state like Delhi. “Would you like to give your state to the same party that has made a mockery of governance in Delhi”, Modi asked the audience who resounded with a roaring “no”.

He urged the electorate not to get swayed over the “false assurance and promises” made by the Congress. He drew a parallel between the growth of BJP-ruled states including Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh and said not a single state ruled by the Congress had won any prime minister appreciation awards for good governance while Karnataka had bagged two of the seven appreciations this year.-DH News