Modi Eyes South in Presidential-Style Bid to Run India

As the helicopter carrying top Indian opposition leader Narendra Modi descended toward a rally in the grounds of the turreted Bangalore Palace, the crowd of more than 300,000 erupted in applause and chanted his name.

On stage, Modi, 63, drew more cheers when he uttered a few lines in the local language spoken in Bangalore, India’s third most-populous city and the gateway to the south where his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party has never won more than 15 percent of parliamentary seats. He flayed the ruling Congress Party for mismanaging the economy while steering clear of any reference to Hinduism that may have stoked criticism of his 2002 handling of anti-Muslim riots that has made him persona non grata in the U.S.