It's business as usual for Modi

Away from the political din triggered by exit polls that indicated a Narendra Modi-led NDA government at the Centre, Gujarat’s capital, Gandhinagar, saw a flurry of activity as visitors came calling on BJP’s prime ministerial candidate in the last 24 hours. But for the man at the centre of political developments, it was business as usual on Tuesday.

Undeterred by media reports of his successor being announced, the Gujarat chief minister immersed himself in clearing pending files at his office in Sachivalaya.

After gruelling months of election campaigning, CMO sources said it was the first time that Modi could spend time discussing his office work. In the morning, he reviewed availability of the Narmada water in Saurashtra and North Gujarat regions.

“He realises that with the temperature rising, these regions could face water shortage. Hence, he convened a meeting of officials from the Narmada department. We had thought he would be tired after the campaign, but he was back to work,” commented senior party leader Vijay Rupani.

Modi also called a meeting with the coordination committee of the party at the party headquarters in Gandhinagar. State president R C Faldu too visited him to discuss the post poll scenario.

However, it was the meeting with party legislators, office-bearers and MPs at the Sachivalaya in the evening that attracted media glare.

Amidst reports that the name of his successor would be unveiled then, Modi arrived at the venue but refused to talk to the media, which was not given permission to attend the event. Later, mediapersons were informed that it was nothing but a routine meeting.

Pollsters may have predicted that Modi would be the next Prime Minister, but he chose to speak about ground-level issues like how legislators can effectively carry on government schemes like Kanya Kelavni (girls’ education) and Krishi Mahotsav (agriculture fair) and so on at the meeting.

“His body language seemed confident about the outcome of the polls, but he did not touch upon successor plans or anything related to that. His focus was on us continuing to work on implementing government schemes,’’ an MLA from central Gujarat who attended the meeting told Deccan Herald.