Uma praises Modi, says country will be safe in his hands

Senior BJP leader Uma Bharti today said here that the country would be safe in the hands of Narendra Modi, the party's prime ministerial candidate.

"Narendra Modi is India's future and it will be safe and secure in his hands," the BJP Vice President said.

Talking to media at her house, she said Modi was declared BJP's candidate for the top post in view of his growing popularity in the country.

Congress was passing through a phase of "frustration and despair", she said.

She pooh-poohed Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi's speech in tribal-dominated Shahdol district where he invited the tribals to visit Lok Sabha.

Bharti said that Rahul, who visited Ratangarh in Datia district to meet the victims of recent stampede, should also have visited Uttarakhand after it was devastated by heavy rains.

The BJP leader said she would seek permission from the Election Commission afresh to visit Ratangarh, as she wanted to pay a visit to the deity, and did not have any political agenda there.

When asked how many seats the ruling BJP would win in Madhya Pradesh in the November 25 Assembly elections, Bharti said the party would cross 150-mark.

Congress, out of power in the state, would now begin to disintegrate, she said.