Modi, Rahul launch massive rally spree to woo voters for Delhi

One confident, aggressive and assured. The other is shy and diffident but relentless. One likes to share his vision and ideas; the other is more of a keen listener. Most importantly, one thinks he's the chosen one to save the country from various maladies, the other seems to be fighting a battle already lost.

Representing different brands of politics, BJP's Narendra Modi and Congress's Rahul Gandhi have pulled out all the stops criss-crossing the country with barely one week left for the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections.

Modi has been given the job he's best at - selling his agenda of development. The BJP's prime ministerial candidate has hardly taken rest since scoring a hat-trick in the Gujarat Assembly polls in 2012, as he straight away got into the Lok Sabha campaign mode. It is learnt that between March first week and April 15 (till the second phase of general elections), he will have addressed nearly 225 rallies.

Going all out

And if one goes by the BJP's own statement, Modi will be addressing 186 rallies in the three weeks between March 27 and April 14 - underlining how the saffron party has put its best bets on the 63-year-old leader to woo the voters. Rahul's campaign style reflects his political philosophy, which revolves around listening to the voice of the people and empowering them through a rights-based approach while pursuing economic growth to fund the social welfare agenda of the Congress.

The Nehru-Gandhi scion, who is leading the Congress's election campaign, has said he favours growth of business but does not want the poor to be left behind in the process. He has also been highlighting the difference between the Congress, which he says talks about uniting people and spreading love, and the BJP, which he accuses of indulging in divisive politics.

While Rahul and his party have mainly attacked Modi by questioning his secular credentials and development claims, the BJP leader has focused on different issues in different states to target the Congress-led UPA government. While in the North-East, Modi has focused on UPA's poor governance and attacked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for "neglecting" the region from where he's an MP. In Bihar and UP, he has taken straight aim at the state governments' development models and often compared them with Gujarat.

His focus on Maoist-hit states like Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh is bound to spring some surprises for the BJP. He has reached out to the youth in these areas by encouraging them to leave guns for development. In north India, he has left no opportunity to slam Aam Aadmi Party's Arvind Kejriwal and Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Expectedly, he has kept his sharpest barbs for the Congress "dynasty".

Bringing out differences in personalities of the two leaders, Rahul's campaign has demonstrated that he listens to people, while Modi's publicity is not that interactive and is at times oneway communication. Sources say that while Rahul has been distancing himself from the office of the Prime Minister, Modi has waylaid many BJP veterans in his single-minded pursuit of the top executive post.

While the BJP has been targeting the UPA on corruption charges, the Congress vice-president has flagged the need to have a framework of legislations to deal with the issue. Unlike Modi, who is being aggressively projected by the BJP as the panacea for all ills plaguing the country, Rahul has been telling voters that there is no magic wand to change things overnight.

While Rahul has been addressing rallies dressed either in his trademark white kurta-pyjama or a pair of blue jeans and white kurta - projecting a rough and ready image - Modi has been very particular about the choice of colours and fabric in the array of kurta-pyjamas he has flaunted without repeating a set. Also, Rahul keeps his speeches short and direct, while Modi uses voice modulation and drama to connect with his audience.