Narendra Modi will boost BJP's tally in Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls: State Minister

INDORE: The ruling BJP in Madhya Pradesh today said that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's presence during the campaign for the upcoming Assembly polls in the state would significantly boost the party's tally.

"The Chief Minister (Shivraj Singh Chouhan) already commands a lot of influence in the state and, after Modi's arrival on the scene, BJP would win 175 out of the total 230 seats in Madhya Pradesh," state Industries Minister Kailash Vijaywargiya said here today.

The minister was responding to a question on whether Modi campaigning in MP would have any impact on the BJP's fortunes in the Assembly polls.

The MP state unit of BJP until recently had refrained from invoking Modi's name. Pictures of the man who was recently appointed BJP's prime ministerial candidate were conspicuously absent during the recent Janashirwad Yatra by Chouhan.

"It (Modi's presence) would be like 'soney pe suhaga' (icing on the cake)," Vijaywargiya said.

BJP has already said that Modi would be a star-campaigner during the Assembly polls.

Meanwhile, party sources said that if Modi campaigned in the Malwa-Nimar area, it was expected he would directly influence the outcome in nearly 60 seats.

However, Congress spokesman Narendra Saluja said that BJP would in fact suffer a setback if Modi were to be roped in to campaign for it.