Now Sonia's Remembering God? Signals Extent of Crisis, Says Modi

Khalilabad : Days after Sonia Gandhi said "God save the country from the Modi model (of governance)," the BJP leader delivered an equally sardonic response.   

"In the last 20 years, I've never heard Sonia Gandhi invoking God ...so you can see what sort of trouble the Congress must be in," Mr Modi, the BJP's prime ministerial candidate, said at a rally in Uttar Pradesh today.

Mrs Gandhi is President of the Congress; her 43-year-old son, Rahul, is leading the party's bid for a third successive term in power.  

The BJP has been promising that Mr Modi, if elected, will adrenalise the economy and create jobs. 

They cite the "Gujarat model" of development, which has turned Mr Modi's home state into an economic powerhouse with investor-friendly policies.  

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The Congress says those policies are designed to benefit rich industrialists at the cost of farmers. 

"If that is the model, then God save this country," Mrs Gandhi said a week ago at a rally in Punjab's Barnala district. 

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She also repeated the allegation that Mr Modi  and his party are shackled to "divisive agendas."  

Detractors of Mr Modi accuse him of not doing enough to stop the communal riots that tore through Gujarat in 2002 on his watch as Chief Minister.  More than 1,000 people were killed, most of them Muslims.

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A Supreme Court inquiry has said there is no evidence that he colluded in the violence; a Gujarat court has upheld that report.

But as it fights predictions of an abysmal result in the election, the Congress and its First Family have in their campaign accused Mr Modi of being a polarising leader who, with his party, will be a threat to social peace if elected.

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Under Mr Modi, the BJP will win the most seats, say opinion polls, though they are divided on whether the party will amass a majority.