Ahmedabad:
A day after most exit polls saw him as India's next prime minister, it was business as usual for
Narendra Modi.
After wrapping up a long and punishing campaign for the nine-phase national election, Mr Modi resumed his official engagements today in Gujarat, the state he has ruled since 2001.
"Held a meeting to discuss Narmada water grid distribution system & reviewed drinking water situation across Gujarat," he tweeted this morning.
Exit polls after the end of voting for the nine-phase election show that the BJP and its allies are set for victory with around 279 seats, well past the half-way mark in Parliament. (read:
Modi, BJP Set for Victory, Exit Polls Show)
Mr Modi has called a meeting of all his party's Gujarat legislators in Gandhinagar this evening, which has triggered speculation that efforts have begun to find his successor in the state. Hours ahead of that meeting, top BJP leaders of the state met.
Mr Modi's possible successors within Gujarat include Anandiben Patel, currently the Revenue Minister, Saurabh Patel, who is Industries Minister, and Bikhu Dalsania, an organisational secretary of the BJP in Gujarat.
Sources in the BJP call this evening's meeting "routine" - they say Mr Modi meets state lawmakers on alternate Tuesdays, and that the agenda will include an estimate of the results of Gujarat's 26 parliamentary seats.
Mr Modi is serving his fourth term as Gujarat Chief Minister; he is contesting his first national election from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh and Vadodara in Gujarat. If he is elected from both, he is likely, sources say, to surrender the Vadodara constituency.