BJP prime minister candidate Narendra Modi on Friday predicted with "full confidence" that this is "exit (farewell) elections" for both the Congress and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) Governments at the Centre and in Odisha, respectively.
He said his prediction was based on the possible outcome of the first phase elections in Odisha on Thursday, in which there was a vast turnout of voters. He has clearly assessed the mood of the people of Odisha and elsewhere in the country in favour of a "total" change of the existing Governments.
The BJP prime minister candidate asserted that "Odisha will pull a miracle" in this election by rejecting the Naveen Patnaik Government, which has done precious little during its 15 long years of rule.
Modi, who was addressing huge rallies at Baleswar, Keonjhar and Talcher, called upon the voters of the State to ensure that the Bharatiya Janata Party also forms Government in Odisha so that the BJP regimes at the Centre and the State work in synch with each other for the State's development.
He reiterated his plea to people that while they have let the Congress rule the Centre for 10 years and the BJD for 15 years they give him and the BJP "60 months" (a five-year term) in New Delhi and Odisha to see what development takes place under the new regime.
Encouraged by the verdict he felt the people of Odisha have given in the elections in the Sate's western and southern parts on Thursday, Modi said his responsibility has increased towards the State, which he promised to fulfil in future.
"I can see the spontaneous love of the people of the Odisha for me and this enhances my responsibilities. I will pay many times more than what you give me now," he said.
"I am born in the land of lord Somnath (Gujarat), but I don't lag behind at all in serving lord Jagannath (of Odisha) too," he said to the thunderous applause of his audiences.
Modi wondered how Naveen Patnaik has been at the helm of the Odisha administration without understanding the Odia language. "Has he done anything real for you," he asked the audiences, which roared "No, no". Has Patnaik been accessible to you, he further asked, to which the audiences also shouted in the negative.
He said he was confident that the Congress "has not opened its accounts" at all in the Thursday round of elections in Odisha.
He accused the Congress of talking of poverty only during the election season. "Once the election time comes, the Congress remembers to talk about poverty… I am talking from experience and their track record," he said.