Modi wave may land BJP more than 300 seats on its own: Rajnath

Indore, March 11: BJP president Rajnath Singh on March 10 claimed his party may win over 300 seats on its own in Lok Sabha elections in view of "surging" popularity of its PM nominee Narendra Modi.

"When I first asked BJP workers to work together to attain the magic figure of 272 seats, even the opinion polls said this target is difficult to achieve. However, seeing the energetic atmosphere in favour of Modi, I now feel that we may cross even 300 seats," Rajnath said while addressing party workers at parliamentary area meet on Dussehra ground here.

Rajnath said Modi was perhaps the only leader in the history of independent India who has been continuously attacked by his opponents. "I feel the Almighty is testing Modi as He wants to get some big work done from him," the BJP president said. Rajnath attacked Congress over its claims of "Bharat Nirman", alleging successive Congress governments have misled the common people on issues like poverty, inflation, unemployment and internal and external security of the country.

Rajnath also expressed concern over a spate of mishaps plaguing the Navy and demanded that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and others should take "moral responsibility" over these incidents. "Why is the PM silent on these mishaps? Should not he and other Congress leaders own up moral responsibility like the Navy chief DK Joshi did over the mishap at a nuclear submarine"? Rajnath said.

He also attacked the central government accusing it of not accepting Madhya Pradesh government's demand for a Rs 5000-crore package for farmers affected by unseasonal rains and hailstorm.

"If the Congress government could indulge in corruption of Rs 5 lakh crore, why can't it give Rs 5000 crore relief to farmers in Madhya Pradesh"? Rajnath said. Praising Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the BJP president said "after formation of the BJP government at the Centre, it will implement a new agriculture income insurance scheme which will take care of damage to crops due to natural calamity in a more realistic manner".

PTI