Modi fidgets, while Kamal Nath beams

AHMEDABAD: Saffron festoons criss-crossed over huge cut-outs of Narendra Modi at the BJP''s near-deserted Khanpur headquarters on Thursday evening. If the BJP leaders were biting their nails, they were not doing it in public.
The BJP media managers, Prabhat Jha and Yamal Vyas industriously collated reports from districts to ready an appraisal for the caretaker chief minister Narendra Modi and deputy prime minister L K Advani.
They aired analyses before the mediapersons, who had gathered to record a reaction from Modi about the omissions in the electoral rolls at Maninagar. Jha even gave detailed explanations on the party''s two-pronged strategy to woo voters in the state.
Outside, surrounded by a police cordon, the area had the look of a curfew-bound area, but the tension told on the faces of the insiders.
In contrast, the Congress camp was buoyed with enthusiasm.
It is ironic that the Congress headquarters, which had collapsed in the earthquake of January 2001 was only rising slowly from the rubble. "I have to lose 70-75 seats to win the rest!" exclaimed AICC general secretary Kamal Nath, grinning from ear to ear. Reports of high voter-turnout pepped up the mood in both places.
In Khanpur, after a long wait, a beaming Modi arrived in Khanpur. He, however, snapped at queries on the omissions, saying: "I am not the competent authority for this question". Across the Sabarmati, Kamal Nath blamed it on the "people who worked under Modi".
If the BJP was cautious about ''guesstimates'', Congress leaders right from Kamal Nath to Shankersinh Vaghela, were talking of the party scoring 110 seats.
Television sets blared, with poll-talk pouring out in every room of the GPCC headquarters. AICC observer Suresh Pachauri and Kamal Nath took time off from their phone calls for giving out ''media-bytes''. Outside, contract caterers were serving the last lunch for the day as party workers tried to take a nap after the hectic slog.
Kamal Nath''s exuberant confidence, Pachauri''s contained optimism and Vaghela''s unrestrained jubiliation was noticeable. But it was all wrapped up by the passing remark of a Congress spokesperson: "Agar woh Kamal hain to yeh Kamal ka Nath hai!" (If they have a lotus, we have the lord of the lotus).