By Ashish Mehta, IANS
Ahmedabad : Despite the national focus on him for his astounding victory, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi remains alone, returning to an empty residence with no family or known close friends to share his moment of triumph.
Coming to politics with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) background, he is a bachelor. His mother and brothers keep away from the limelight.
Modi’s party colleagues remember the time he spent in Delhi as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) general secretary and spokesman in the late 1990s, when he lived with his confidant Dileep Sanghani, MP, or at a small room in the party headquarters – with little socializing.
Although he won many admirers as chief minister and by espousing the hardline Hindutva, Modi continues to live alone at his official residence in capital Gandhinagar.
Even as the news came in the morning that he was winning a second consecutive election, creating new records, he remained closeted at his home with a few colleagues, arriving at the grand reception at the party’s state headquarters only in the afternoon.
BJP workers recall his swearing-in ceremony this month five years ago when his mother turned up for the occasion – she sat quietly in a corner till somebody recognised her and arranged for her to sit in the front row. They also remember that he had refused to acknowledge her in public.
After creating history with his win against all odds, Modi will turn only to his laptop – he says he has never taken vacation in the past five years.