A day after he scripted his party's resounding victory in the assembly elections, Narendra Modi was on Monday elected leader of the BJP Legislature Party in Gujarat to be sworn in as Chief Minister for a second time on December 22. Fifty-two-year-old Modi, who virtually carried the party's campaign in the last few months, was elected at a meeting of the new elected
MLAs after his name was proposed by senior Minister Ashok Bhatt and seconded by six MLAs drawn from different regions of the state.
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani would be present at the swearing-in ceremony, party President M Venkaiah Naidu, who presided over the meeting, said altering the earlier plans to have the swearing ceremony on Wednesday.
Fresh from the victory, in his address to MLAs , he took a pot shot at the "anti-BJP" elements, who, he said, may not be in a position to "digest" BJP's success.
"I can understand what will be their condition after BJP's victory. They will not be able to digest it," he said.
Modi also took the opportunity to advise his main rival Congress to be "constructive" in their opposition so that the two together could take Gujarat to number one spot.