Swaminathan Aiyar: 90 per cent chance of Narendra Modi becoming PM

NEW DELHI: In the Lok Sabha polls 2014, people have voted for BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi because of his good work in Gujarat, feels Swaminathan Aiyar, Consulting Editor at ET Now. "People have voted for Modi as he has done good work in Gujarat," Aiyar told ET Now.


Aiyar sees a ninety per cent chance of Narendra Modi becoming the Prime Minister and a zero per cent possibility of a BJP government coming to power without Modi leading it.

Aiyar, who has travelled extensively in UP and Bihar, recently told ET Now, "Both in eastern UP and central Bihar there was a clear strong sentiment in favour of Modi. I would say even more in central Bihar than in eastern UP. You found it in remote villages which you would not have thought are not particularly well informed."

"When you ask people, everybody seems to think that Modi will do some good things. The word has gone around that this man (Modi) has done good things in Gujarat and he will do good things here (in UP and Bihar)," Aiyar added.

"Many people said that we may vote for Nitish Kumar for the state election, but for the central election we will vote for BJP," Aiyar said, while elaborating the ground situation in Bihar. "From pure arithmetic perspective there are some areas in Bihar where Lalu is strong. He has emerged as a strong second,"Aiyar said.

Aiyar went on to say, "There is a substantial amount of migrant population that has gone from Bihar and UP to Gujarat. They have reported back that things run very well and peacefully in Gujarat." "I think the word of mouth by migrants carries more weight than any number of television interviews," Aiyar said.

Aiyar also said that more than 50 seats for the BJP in UP is a credible possibility. "There is a message of optimism and hope that Modi is sending out. There is no doubt that he has eaten into the vote share of SP and BSP with the Dalits and backward classes," Aiyar said.