Addressing BJP workers at Hyderabad airport soon after his arrival from New Delhi on a two-day visit to Andhra Pradesh, the Prime Minister expressed hope that the BJP would return to power in Rajasthan and Delhi. "Although they are state elections, they have their own importance". Later when reporters drew his attention at the Puttaparti airport to the recent poll surveys indicating a downslide for the BJP in the coming poll, Vajpayee quipped "wait and see".

The prime minister rejected Sonia Gandhi's charge that BJP had failed to provide good governance saying that his party had administered Rajasthan successfully for eight years and had many achievements to itscredit in Delhi.

Meanwhile, as the ban on meetings and rallies goes into force, campaigners, in their last-ditch efforts, will move door-to- door to woo an electorate of over eight crore who will decide the fortunes of over 5,000 candidates including four chief ministers for 626 seats in the four states.

The fortnight-long frenzied campaign dominated by the issue of spiralling prices, especially of onions, was by large and peaceful, barring the murder of Samata Party candidate in Delhi which saw straining of relations between BJP and its allies. The BJP, at the receiving end of an opposition onslaught with the Vajpayee government's eight-month rule coming under scrutiny, raked up a number of issues of the past.