Those who go against mandate will suffer: Modi

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi set the ball rolling for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections as he reached out to 1,500 BJP leaders and workers in Bihar through teleconferencing on Saturday.

Modi said the common man won’t forgive those who violated the people’s mandate.
Without naming Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar, his bête noire who snapped ties with the BJP three weeks ago over Modi’s projection as a candidate for the country’s top executive post, the Gujarat chief minister said: “The politically-conscious people will give a befitting reply to those (read the JD-U strongman) who have violated the mandate given by the Bihar electorate in the November 2010 Assembly polls.”

Beginning the poll war from Kumar’s turf, after being made chief of the BJP poll campaign committee recently, the tech-savvy Modi interacted with 1,500 party men for one hour from 6 pm .

He tried to boost the sagging morale of the cadre, who looked directionless after being dumped by Kumar last month.

Contrary to the hype and expectations, Modi neither touched upon the governance agenda nor outlined how to make the BJP a winnable force in Kumar’s fiefdom.
He, however, agreed to address the “Hunkar rally” being organised by the BJP in Patna on October 27 after a formal request was made by former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi.

The Gujarat chief minister recalled the old association of Bihar with Gujarat, referring to Mahatma Gandhi (from Gujarat) launching his satyagraha against the British from Bihar, while Jaiprakash Narayan (from Bihar) launched his agitation against the Indira Gandhi-led Congress regime from Gujarat.

The JD-U and the Congress, however, dismissed Modi’s first foray into Bihar as “insignificant” and a “flop show.”

“There was an unwritten ban on Modi from entering Bihar during the poll campaign till the JD-U ruled in alliance with the BJP. Now that the ties have been severed, what prevented Narendra Modi to visit the state and interact with the workers instead of teleconferencing, which was more a publicity stunt at the behest of an American ad agency?” Congress chief spokesperson and media in-charge Prem Chandra Mishra told Deccan Herald here on Saturday.

The JD-U said Saturday’s “flop show” proved that Narendra Modi “was not any factor in Bihar.”