Modi says he is winning but no fun minus Gujarat's 26 seats

Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on Sunday asserted that the country had made up its mind to bring him back to power but said the victory will have little meaning if Gujarat did not repeat the 26-out-of-26 performance of 2014.

Stating that it was the responsibility of Gujarat "to protect your son", Modi said that loss of even one seat from here would invite taunts and questions from the media. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had bagged all 26 seats from the state in 2014.

"They will not talk about the victory at the national level but would question me what went wrong in Gujarat," he said, delivering his last election speech in his home state where campaigning ends on Sunday evening.

Raising the son-of-the-soil pitch, Modi asked a jam-packed rally in Gujarati: "Isn't it your responsibility to protect your son? Will you not take up this responsibility?"

The crowds replied in the affirmative when he asked, "If you have a right over me, don't I have a right over you?"

The Prime Minister exhorted the people to pick the BJP candidates, stating that "every vote to them is a direct vote for me". BJP candidates from Mehsana, Patan and Banskantha Lok Sabha seats and for Unjha assembly by-election seat were present.

Modi said he had been asked by the party not to come to Gujarat and focus energies on the entire nation, "but I have come here so that I can meet you all," he said.

He added he had come to seek "the blessings of the elders like we do on important occasions. Bestow such blessings on me that the country does not get an opportunity to taunt me later."

The Prime Minister was speaking in Patan in North Gujarat which is about an hour's drive from his birthplace Vadnagar. He tried to drew a connect with the town and nearby areas and even named the places he might have stayed in the past.

Modi even recalled the name of a photographer, Natwarlal Suthar of Patan, in whose studio he claimed to have had his first formal picture done.

He also recalled how he had got the Rani ki Vaav (step-well) printed on currency notes after it was declared a world heritage site. "There was no need for anyone to give the Prime Minister a memorandum to do this. It happened because your son was at the Centre," he said.

--IANS

desai/mr