Narendra Modi during his rally in Delhi
It was a little after 5 pm when BJP's PM candidate Narendra Modi walked onto the stage at Ambedkar Nagar in south Delhi, fresh from attacking the Jammu and Kashmir government and the Centre at his rally in Jammu, he trained his guns again on the Congress.
From the venue to his speech, Mr Modi's last rally in Delhi before the assembly elections here on Wednesday was full of symbolism. Mr Modi chose the same ground where exactly two weeks ago, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi had held a public rally. The Congress couldn't gather the numbers to fill the ground, and despite Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit's appeals to the crowd to stay on to listen to Mr Gandhi's speech, many did leave, leading to a major embarrassment for the Congress in the middle of a heated election season.
"You can suppress Mulayam Singh Yadav, you can suppress Mayawati, but remember, this is Narendra Modi and I come from the land of Sardar Patel," Mr Modi proclaimed at today's rally leading to a loud applause from the crowd.
"All Congressmen, listen carefully. The more muck you try to throw at it, the more the lotus will blossom," Mr Modi said. Lotus is the BJP's election symbol.
The 30-minute speech focused on the Congress' 'unkept' promises and alleged scams. However, Mr Modi also targeted Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party, which has made the Delhi elections a three-way battle.
"It was because of one person's personal political ambitions that the groundswell Anna Hazare got, did not work. When he couldn't stand by Anna, how will he be able to stand by you?" Mr Modi said.
The congress has said the 'Modi factor' will have no impact on the Delhi elections. But given the cosmopolitan nature of the national capital, Delhi is often seen as a microcosm of India even in its voting pattern, which is why, how Delhi votes will be keenly watched in the context of the 2014 general elections.