Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP)’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi cast his vote in the Gandhinagar parliamentary constituency, from where his political mentor and party veteran L K Advani is contesting.
Briefing the media after exercising his franchise, the Gujarat Chief Minister expressed confidence of forming the next government at the Centre saying that he has travelled across the country and sensed the voters’ mood against the present ‘mother-son’ government.
Voters’ mood
“We have completed six phases through the election process. Today is the seventh phase of polling. I had the opportunity to travel the most places across the country for campaigning. I can sense voters’ mood from my first-hand experience. This maa-bete ki sarkar is gone and the foundation for the next government has already been laid,” he told the media outside the Nishan Vidyalaya in Ranip area of Ahmedabad. The area falls under the Gandhinagar constituency.
Huge crowd had gathered outside the polling booth since morning as Modi was scheduled to cast his vote at around 8 a.m. Residents nearby the polling booth were excited about watching their leader, who they feel, would make it to the PM post.
“We are confident he will make it to PM office. As a Gujarati, it is a moment of pride for us to vote for BJP and elect him as our PM,” said Haribhai Patel, a resident in the neighborhood of the pooling booth.
As soon as Modi emerged after casting his vote, the crowd received him with chants of ‘Modi-Modi’. To reciprocate it, Modi stepped out in the street and walked towards the crowd to cheer them up. Holding the party symbol ‘Lotus’ on one hand Modi also clicked a selfie in front of the media.
Attack on Congress
In his brief address to media, a visibly content Modi said: “The Congress has accepted their loss. It is evident when they say Congress will support the Third Front to form the government.”
Modi also regretted about spending less time in Gujarat for campaigning. “Earlier I used to spend a lot of time for poll campaigning. But this time, I have been able to devote 18 hours in two days. I regret for the same. But I believe that has not affected our poll prospects in Gujarat,” he said.
Decisive poll for Telangana
Referring to the newly formed state, Telangana, Modi noted that the polling on Wednesday was crucial for Telangana. “Telangana too votes today. The future of Telangana will be decided from today’s voting,” he said.
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