Modi promises fresh vikas ki Ganga in his next tenure

Paliganj (Bihar): The last phase of polling may be five days away but Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday oozed with confidence about victory and promised he will bring a fresh "vikas ki Ganga" to Bihar during his next tenure.

He also said terrorists should be beaten like "ghosts who are driven away after being caught by the tuft of hair", and accused the Congress-led opposition of trying to downplay the issue of national security despite numerous lives lost in terror attacks.

"This is my last election rally in Bihar. You have given me enormous love, and with my competent allies sitting on this dais, I am assured that the poll outcome would be favourable. But please ensure in the last phase that the magnitude of victory is divya aur bhavya (grand).

"In my next tenure, I would be among you once again and bring along vikaas ki Ganga, he told an election rally here in Pataliputra parliamentary constituency, which goes to poll on May 19 in the final phase of the 7-stage general election.

The prime minister's comments came shortly after BJP president Amit Shah claimed in New Delhi that his party has already crossed the majority mark after the sixth phase of polling.

"I am fully confident that the BJP after the fifth and sixth phase of the elections has crossed the majority figure. It is going to cross 300 after the seventh phase," he told a press conference.

Modi claimed before 2014 when terrorists used to strike, the government of the day confined its response to issuing statements. However, his government refused to take things lying down when Pakistan-sponsored terrorists "wounded the nation's psyche".

The armed forces were given a free hand, he said, asserting terrorists were bumped off inside their hideouts (ghar mein ghuskar maara).