In the decade before he was drafted for national duty in 1995, he expanded the party network in Gujarat from 1,000 village units to an astounding 16,000. The "Gujarat model" became something of a mantra in the BJP. He coins catchy slogans and he has great organisational skills -- he turned around the BJP's Gujarat poll strategy in a day after Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated. And in the face of a Congress wave won for the party 20 out of the 26 Lok Sabha seats. "I start to smell the mood at election time," Modi says. Some say the chief minister's job in Gujarat is within sniffing distance. That's a first step.