It was lonely at the top. Neither Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi nor BJP President L K Advani managed to draw crowds the way the party had anticipated.

On Sunday, Modi’s rally attracted a trickle of a little over two thousand in Ahwa, the district headquarters of Dangs. In his rallies at Dharampur and Mota Pondha in south Gujarat, the numbers were even fewer.

In fact, it was a repeat performance of L K Advani’s rally a day earlier.

Already worried over the failure of Advani to draw crowds, the BJP’s election steering committee did some brainstorming on Saturday. A party leader who was part of the deliberations said the issue was discussed in detail and a last attempt is now being made at cadre mobilisation, including pacifying fence sitting disgruntled elements.

Considering the response Congress chief Sonia Gandhi got at her Jamanpada rally in Chikhli (south Gujarat), is it a sign of coming trouble for the BJP, at least in rural areas?

BJP spokesperson Vijay Rupani thinks otherwise. “I don’t buy this line. Modiji is our star and it’s showing. I have been monitoring each of the 16 meetings in Saurashtra, and they have seen record-breaking attendance,” he said.

According to him, over 5 lakh people attended Modi’s Sunday rally at Surat. “We would cross the existing 39 seats in Saurashtra region alone, if the attendance is any barometer,” he adds.

Others were not so generous. Many in Surat say the number at the meet was not more than 50,000, even though hundreds of vehicles were engaged to get people to the rally at Surat from the neighbouring districts of Navsari and Bharuch.

... contd.