By Rajeev Khanna, IANS
Ahmedabad : Is Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi harbouring ambitions of becoming prime minister? He almost admitted as much while addressing a rally, before he corrected himself just in time.
Addressing a well-attended rally here, Modi in his trademark style was engaging the audience in a question and answer session. He nearly asked those gathered whether they wanted to see him as the prime minister – he stopped after saying “pradhan…” for pradhan mantri or prime minister and quickly corrected himself to say “mukhya mantri” or chief minister.
BJP president Rajnath Singh, sharing the dais, showed no signs of noticing the gaffe.
Many would call it a Freudian slip that gives a new twist to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s earlier remark that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) named L.K. Advani as its prime ministerial candidate because it was afraid of Modi.
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Where is Lalu?
His absence from the campaign may be a part of the Congress party’s strategy but many in Gujarat missed that colourful leader from Bihar – Railway Minister Lalu Prasad.
People may or may not vote for the party he campaigns, but his past rallies in the state were well attended as he held the audiences spellbound with his earthly wit and humour.
Many voters, particularly from working class areas of Ahmedabad and Vadodara, could be seen asking Congress functionaries at rallies: when is Lalu Prasad coming for the campaign?
Well, there is always another chance.
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Decoding bets
Betting is something that comes naturally to many in Gujarat whenever there is a contest. If not cricket, elections would do for punters to make a quick buck. As a lot of betting takes place over phone it is essential to learn the codes.
The betting terminology this time is inspired by the Gujarati cuisine. Candidates are referred to by specific Gujarati dishes. For example, Finance Minister Vajubhai Vala contesting for the sixth time from Rajkot II is reportedly being referred to as farali patties and his rival Kashmira Nathwani is called penda.
The punters refer to Govind Patel as ganthiya and Jayesh Radadiya is tavo.
But when it comes to bigwigs the codes are different. In the betting parlance, Narendra Modi is reportedly being referred to as Hitler and his rival Dinsha Patel as shoorvir (the bold).