Narendra Modi’s dig at Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party

Panaji –  In an apparent reference to the media attention that Arvind Kejriwal and his rookie Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have managed to get, the BJP’s Narendra Modi has suggested that the country needs “constructive vision on the ground” and not just leaders who make good television.

“People must decide – will good happen by constantly being on TV screens or through constructive and development-oriented vision on ground,” he tweeted soon after addressing a rally in Panaji, Goa, on Sunday evening. Mr Modi is the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 general elections due by May.

At the rally, Mr Modi made a veiled attack on AAP leaders for their “lack of experience” and said the country needed “people who have experience to take it forward and we are determined to do that”.

He put forth his candidacy as that experienced leader. “I have been serving Gujarat for 12 years. On TV screens and pages of newspapers, I have always lost and could never win them over. But I have never lost in people’s hearts,” said Mr Modi. (Highlights of Mr Modi’s speech)

Mr Modi praised the “simplicity” of Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, saying had he been in Delhi, the country would have known him well. “But what can we do, he is in Goa and not in Delhi and the media does not see beyond Delhi,” the Gujarat Chief Minister said.

The BJP’s chief ministers – like Mr Parrikar and Shivraj Singh Chauhan in Madhya Pradesh, Raman Singh in Chhattisgarh and former Himachal Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal  – were from common-man families and were serving the country, Mr Modi said, crediting the BJP’s “power and strength that a tea seller like me was groomed to lead the party.”

The people, he said, have to vote for India and not for any individual or any party.