Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday expressed confidence that the BJP-led NDA would win more than 400 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Addressing a huge election rally of BJP candidate Anil Antony, son of senior Congress leader AK Antony, in Kerala’s Pathanamthitta, Prime Minister Modi predicted that the lotus would bloom in Kerala this time. He expressed the hope that the saffron party would win seats in the state in double-digit.

Modi started his campaign from Pathanamthitta where the famous Lord Ayyappa temple is located, by chanting “Swamiye Saranam Ayyappa (I seek refuge in you, Lord Ayyappa)”.

He said there should be MPs from Kerala to convey the true sentiments of the people of the state, to the Central government.

While the corrupt governments under UDF and LDF tried to destroy Kerala, the Central government is working for the progress of the state, the PM said.

In an oblique reference to the death of JS Sidharth, a second-year student, on the Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University campus at Pookode in Wayanad, Prime Minister Modi said college campuses in have become Communist havens. Even the youth have to live in fear here, but the government of Kerala is feigning ignorance about all that’s happening.

Referring to the attack on a Catholic priest in Poonjar in the Kottayam district last month, Modi said, “It is unfortunate that even church priests in Kerala are not safe from violence.

The prime minister said the LDF and UDF are deceiving the people of Kerala by pretending that they are fighting each other, but once they reach Delhi, they stand shoulder-to-shoulder with each other, he said.

He said the culture of Kerala is associated with spirituality. But the LDF and the UDF are trying to destroy this tradition and spirituality. The Kerala government’s method is to divide the people of Kerala who want peace. They believe in violent politics. The LDF loots in the form of gold while the UDF loots in the form of solar. It is the people of Kerala who have to stop this robbery, he said.

He also said his government had taken steps for the repatriation of people from various countries during the crisis situations.