Modi files nomination in his ‘karambhoomi’ Vadodara
VADODARA: Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate and Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday filed his nomination papers from the Vadodara Lok Sabha constituency in his home state saying he is grateful to his party for nominating him from the city.
Wearing a saffron jacket Modi waved to thousands of cheering supporters on his way to the office of the collector to file his papers to stand in the country’s mammoth six-week election which entered its second of nine phases on Wednesday.
Making a rare public outing in a jeep, Modi waved at the sea of crowd with the BJP’s saffroncoloured flag, which is forecast to inflict a crushing defeat on the ruling Congress party.
Modi submitted his papers at 11.28am before the returning officer of Vadodara.
“I had started my political career in Saurashtra and I am now in this region again,” Modi said after filing his nomination.
His decision to contest from Vadodara, the other being Varanasi in Lok Sabha polls, arises out of more than one reason.
He calls Vadodara his ‘karambhoomi’, having spent five years till 1983 as an RSS pracharak. In a surprise move ahead of the polling day on Thursday, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday visited the auto-rickshaw driver who had slapped him at a roadshow in northwest Delhi and said he has “forgiven” the KOLAR (KARNATAKA): Training her guns on Narendra Modi, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday charged that he was being projected with his “true face” hidden behind a mask and as a “magician” who could cure all ills of the country.
Without naming Modi, Sonia also made a stinging attack on the Gujarat model of development being touted by him, saying some people had the habit of projecting “small things in a big” attacker. “I forgave him,” Kejriwal said after meeting 38-year-old Lali at his residence in Aman Vihar area of Outer Delhi. Lali had on Tuesday slapped Kejriwal, leaving him with a swollen eye. way as if no good work is happening in other states. “These days you can see all over the country huge and costly advertisements are being showcased and an attempt is being made by them to hide the truth,” the UPA chairperson told an election rally here. Lambasting the Gujarat development model, Sonia said, “This development... children are dying of malnutrition in poor man’s house, tribals are facing problems in leading their daily lives.” PTI Touched by Kejriwal’s gesture, Lali described Kejriwal as “god” and said he made a “mistake” by attacking the former chief minister. “I have committed a mistake. I slapped him because he left the government.” PTI