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BJP will return to power with majority: Modi


Published : 17 May 2019 09:16 PM | Updated : 07 Sep 2020 09:20 PM

Addressing his first media conference in five years here on Friday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that for the first time a government that enjoyed a full five-year term will return with majority after the parliamentary election. "It has not happened often in our country that a government with full majority returns once again with a majority," he told the media at the BJP headquarters as the campaign for the long-drawn polling in the elections came to an end on Friday evening.

Modi said BJP will get full majority in the poll and “we will start work as soon as possible on the promises made in our manifesto once we come to power again.” The new government will take up its responsibility as soon as possible, he said adding “one of the specialties of our government has been last-mile delivery.”

The final phase of polling covering 59 of the total of 543 Lok Sabha seats is scheduled for May 19 and the counting of votes will be taken up on May 23. “The BJP will return (to power) with full majority. This in itself is a big achievement,” said Modi flanked by BJP President Amit Shah. Shah said there should be no doubt and confusion about BJP-led NDA getting more than 300 seats in the election to the 543-member Lok Sabha but at the same time added that if anyone else wanted to join the party-led government, “our doors are open for them.”

The BJP chief said his prediction of BJP getting full majority on its own is based on the analysis of the response of the people during the campaign. On the other hand, Congress President Rahul Gandhi, who also addressed a separate media conference at the party headquarters around the same time as Modi, declined to answer a question repeatedly asked by reporters as to how many seats his party would get and said “why be impatient? You will get to know that on May 23. All that I can tell you is that we will accept and respect whatever the people’s verdict is.”

Rahul accused the Election Commission of being “biased” and alleged the poll body did not act against Modi when he spoke on certain issues but took action when opposition leaders did the same. He claimed the it is “quite clear that the entire election scheduled was drawn up keeping in mind Narendra Modi.” Modi said he came to Friday’s press conference just to thank the people of India who extended him all cooperation to him in the last five years. “I have always got cooperation from the people in the last five years. They have given me their blessings all these years,” he remarked.

“I told the countrymen that I have come to thank you. For your blessings through the ups and downs. The country has always been with us. So, in a way, the campaign was a way of saying thanks. Even today, I am here to thank you and thank the people through you,” Modi said. The Prime Minister said “we can say some things proudly. Our democracy is a vibrant one, full of goodness. We are the biggest democracy in the world but to showcase our capability is a responsibility we all share.”

Referring to his 2014 national poll victory, Modi said "On May 16 the results came out. And in May 17 there was a big casualty. Those who were power-hungry and those into betting suffered a biggest loss." On this year's election, he said the poll was held in a “positive manner” and his planning was "very detailed."
After he ended his remarks to the media, Shah took questions from the journalists. Modi, to the very first question addressed to him, said: "I am a disciplined soldier, party president is everything for me."