Rajkot: Chief Minister Narendra Modi used a state BJP meeting in Rajkot to tell his party that elections in Gujarat this year would be business as usual - Brand Modi taking on the opposition and, in his words, decimating them yet again.
Just outside the venue of the two-day meeting, supporters of Mr Modi's rival Sanjay Joshi wore Joshi masks to drive home the point that much had changed from five years ago when Mr Modi had led the party's election campaign with the firm backing of everyone in the Sangh Parivar. This time Mr Modi faces deep divisions in the party cadres.
Mr Joshi was made to quit the BJP this week to assuage Mr Modi and keep peace among the two leaders that the party's parent body, the RSS sees as the future - Mr Modi and BJP president Nitin Gadkari.
The masked men openly distributed pamphlets in Mr Joshi's support. All through this week, posters in praise of Mr Joshi and criticizing Mr Modi have sprung up in Mr Modi's Ahmedabad and a new set adorned walls of the Mayor's home in Rajkot. Brand Modi is taking a hit from within.
The Chief Minister is also facing serious dissention in the BJP's state unit. So even as he was busy addressing the meet at Rajkot, senior party leaders including former chief minister and known Modi detractor Keshubhai Patel were issuing appeals against Mr Modi at a tribal rally in central Gujarat.
Several of his colleagues have also been trying to drive away the powerful Patel community, which had backed Mr Modi during the last elections.
Even though, Mr Modi has appeared unfazed in public, there seems to be an obvious damage-control campaign at work. During today's meet, he allowed state BJP chief RC Faldu the centrestage. Mr Faldu, a Leuva Patel, was projected as show master to placate the Patel community. Insiders say that for the first time in 10 years, Mr Modi played second fiddle to the organisation.
Meanwhile, at the meet Mr Modi opened an attack on the UPA government, saying the country's integrity has been hurt by the Centre's 'corruption and bad economic decisions'.
"The Congress government has jolted the integrity of India. India is one of the youngest countries in the world, but look what the Congress government has done with it," Mr Modi said today.
"The Congress government has no answers to the charges against it. Look where inflation has reached. What are the people in Delhi doing? Every time our Prime Minister assures the nation that the inflation will come down. The media must show the PM's bytes and his false promises. Look at where rupee has reached. Why is it only India has been so adversely affected? Smaller countries are coping with it, why is India struggling? I strongly believe the situation we are in is not just because of economics," he added.
(Read what Mr Modi said)The Gujarat elections are scheduled for later this year, and Mr Modi said he is confident of another BJP triumph in the state. "We are Team BJP. We are Team Gujarat. We walk only on the path of development," he said, adding, "The Congress will be wiped out by 2012 as people are now tired of it."
The Gujarat unit of Congress reacted to Mr Modi's speech at the meet, saying the Chief Minister is engaging in "political terrorism."
"The citizens of our country know that people like Modi are doing political terrorism using the party," Gujarat Congress leader Arjun Modhwadia said.
Apart from the Congress, Mr Modi is likely to face major opposition from former Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel and his supporters who have openly challenged the Modi government's rule in the run up to the state elections.