Until recently the Gujarat Chief Minister was considered unanimously the best candidate for the elections for another time in a row but recently he had been the target of a lot of criticism. His troubles started with Keshubhai Patel dismembering himself from the party and then establishing his own Gujarat Parivartan Party. The key member's loss who was also a chief minister of the state earlier could be a big blow to the party.

To add to his trouble the free housing scheme launched by the Congress had shaken up the modest Modi.

He has embarked on hisVivekananda Yatra to garner the admiration back after his reputation has taken a downfall, ever so slightly. The yatra would begin today from the temple town Becharaji. The day coincidentally matches the two extreme days in history of mankind; one being the same day as the legendary elocution of the Swami Vivekananda at the World Parliament of Religions at Chicago back in 1893 and the ghastly tragedy of the World Trade Center attack, the 9/11attack.

According to the sources from BJP it was known that the president of the BJP Rajnath Singh himself would be present at the launch of the program along with the leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley. This site is just a few kilometers away from the new plant-to-come  proposed by the Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.

In the campaign that would last as long as a month, Modi would spread the message of Swami Vivekananda whilst covering over 150 sub-routes and all 182 Assembly constituencies. The end of the yatra would concur with the birth anniversary of Jayprakash Narayan, the man who opposed Indira Gandhi in the 1970s.

Earlier Modi had gone on a similar yatra in 2002, the Gaurav rath yatra, just ahead of the Assembly polls which made him emerge victorious after the post-Godhra riots case. With a similar stunt would he continue to be in power with a thumping majority is something time would tell.

(AW- Anil)