Ahmedabad: Accusing the Congress of "trying to hide in the bunker of secularism", BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi today said that it was fighting for its survival with even a 100-seat mark in the new Lok Sabha appearing "an uphill task for it".
Modi was reacting to Congress president Sonia Gandhi's accusation that his election campaign was a "dangerous combination of religious fanaticism, power and money".
Responding to Gandhi's dig that he was promising to make India a paradise, he said, "I have never claimed that I will make India a paradise and that I have solutions to all problems. I am sure even people do not expect this from me."
People of India were not looking forward to miracles but "they certainly deserve a stable, decisive and sensitive government," he said.
Asked about recent attacks on him by Priyanka Gandhi who had accused him of humiliating her family and husband Robert Vadra, the BJP leader said that as a daughter and sister she has a right to campaign for her mother and her brother. (Now, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra takes on Narendra Modi over 56-inch chest remark)
"It is natural that a daughter would like to defend her mother. A sister would like to defend her brother. I do not have any problems with that," Modi said.
Answering a question on how allegations against Vadra would be dealt with in the event of his coming to power, the BJP leader said that he did not believe in politics of vendetta and witch-hunting of which he had been a "victim" for the last ten years. (There will be no sparing, no witchhunt: Arun Jaitley on Robert Vadra)
"At the same time, nobody was above law and if somebody had done something wrong, the law must take its own course. But that has to happen in an institutional manner as per the due process without interference from any quarter. Such actions should never be guided by political considerations," Modi said.
When asked if he would reach out to regional leaders like Mamata Banerjee, Jayalalithaa and Mayawati who had been critical of him during the campaign but whose support he may need after the poll results were out, Modi replied," As of now I firmly believe that the BJP with its pre-poll NDA partners is going to get the required numbers to form a government at the Centre. You must keep in mind that we already have a big and powerful alliance of more than 25 partners. (Full Coverage: India Votes 2014)
"We are sure that we will get the numbers to run the government. However, we will need everyone's support and cooperation to run the country."
Modi sharply attacked recent moves by the Congress for an OBC quota for backward Muslims and said that this was nothing but a "last ditch effort" to indulge in "vote bank politics and politics of appeasement on the eve of elections".
