Congress leader BK Hariprasad, who today filed his nomination for the Rajya Sabha seat by-poll, rubbished Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's crowd-pulling capacity given his past record.
"Narendra Modi in the last 2009 election has addressed almost about 75 public meetings in Gujarat, he had won about 15 seats. And after Gujarat he had held about 212 public meetings, he had not even won 12 seats, he is no match for Congress," he told media here.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stalwart Lal Krishna Advani had earlier on Sunday praised Modi, who is the party's poll panel chief.
Delivering the valedictory address at a meeting of the BJP election campaign committee, state unit presidents and general secretaries in New Delhi, Advani said that the BJP was going in the right direction under Modi's guidance, and added that the party will secure a record win in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
BJP President Rajnath Singh had yesterday urged party workers to work hard to win more than half the number of seats in the Lok Sabha, in order to get a majority.
Singh said the BJP must aim for more than 272 seats to get the majority.
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"In the beginning of the meeting, our party President Rajnath Singh said 'we will go for polls with full confidence and we will try to win more than 272 seats alone. We will approach people with a mission of securing 272 plus'," BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said.
The BJP's likely prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, has claimed that people want to throw the ruling Congress Party out of power due to its mis-governance.
"Narendra Modi spoke about the election campaign. He said the 'mood is against the Congress, people want to throw the Congress Party out of power and the BJP is the only alternative before them'," Javadekar added.
