Ahmedabad: Under attack from various quarters for his "derogatory" remarks on Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today (April 4, 2004) likened the heat of election campaigning to a nail-biting cricket match, saying in future he would make efforts to "maintain line and length".

"When a cricket match reaches the peak of excitement, it is possible that a wide ball or a no ball is bowled. Similar is the case when election campaigning is at its peak. But in future, I would see to it that line and length is maintained so that opponents do not get any chance," Modi told 'The Indian Express' Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta in the "Walk the Talk" programme of NDTV 24x7, a party release said today.

The programme would be telecast on April 10.

Quoting a "survey" in Nadiad, Modi had said during Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani's Bharat Uday Yatra that Gandhi and Rahul were found "unfit" even for the post of clerk or driver.

Apart from Congress, Modi also drew flak from BJP young turk Varun Gandhi when the latter was canvassing in South Gujarat yesterday.