One can feel the rising anxiety and tension as the last round of polling on Dec.16 nears. The pitch is increasingly being queered. For the first time ever since the Gujarat campaign began, the Congress has come out in the open and promised to review the criminal cases related to the post Godhra carnage. And that was said by none other than the Prime Minister, in reply to a question at a press conference. And that was enough for Chief Minister Narendra Modi to go ballistic. His discourse is increasingly assuming the form of street-side lingo, full of macho daring. "Come and arrest me if you have the guts", he dared Prime Minister Dr.Singh.

Is it a sign of panic? Many would like to believe so here. However, it would be too hasty to come to such a conclusion. Simply because this is the lingo Modi has always been comfortable with. And this is what his innumerable admirers in and outside Gujarat would like to hear from him. However on advice from well meaning friends, he had been forced to adopt a more sober approach, which he has now abandoned, and will abandon further in the next 36 hours. And all he needed was a provocation and that has come for him in the form of the PM's assurance.

The exit polls results of the first phase also seem to be playing on his mind as he let himself go the only way he knows--- juvenile dare-devilry!

Even his own party leaders admit they are losing ground in Saurashtra and are likely to lose about ten seats. They also admit they may lose some seats in South Gujarat. The battle therefore is now concentrated in North Gujarat and Central Gujarat. The two regions which witnessed maximum mayhem and carnage in 2002. And it is here the real face of Modi---with the development mask ripped off—is showing.

To understand the significance of these two regions in the final outcome, a look at the 2002 record is necessary. While there are 47 sets in North Gujarat, 32 had been won by the BJP and 14 by the Congress, and out of the 48 seats in central Gujarat, 41 was won by the BJP and only 7 by the Congress. It was almost a clean sweep as BJP had won 73 of the 95 seats in these two regions.

With the party by its own admission ( a senior leader of the party from Delhi made this admission today to this column) slipping in Saurashtra and South Gujarat, it is essential for them to hold to substantial number of the seats in South and Central Gujarat to emerge triumphant.