I see saffron wave in this region, Narendra Modi in Bangalore

BANGALORE: The Bharatiya Janata party's (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi began his poll campaign in Bangalore by congratulating prominent scientist CNR Rao and Sachin Tendulkar for receiving the Bharat Ratna award.

"In the history of Karnataka, no political party has ever seen such a gathering. It is a sea of saffron in Bengaluru," Narendra Modi said. "I congratulate all the people of Karnataka. What a sight you people have created? I asked the BJP Karnataka, has there been such a rally anywhere Karnataka. They said this is the biggest in the history of the state, Modi said.

The rally in Karnataka is crucial for the party which is hoping to work the Gujarat chief minister magic to bring the party back to power in the state.

The BJP had lost the Karnataka assembly polls earlier this year and Congress came to power.

Karnataka has 28 seats in the Lok Sabha and of those, 19 seats are held by the BJP. However, BJP's recent poor show in the state assembly polls will weigh heavy on the party's state.