Noted criminal lawyer Ram Jethmalani on Friday expressed his delight with the Bharatiya Janata Party's move to announce the Gujarat Chief Minister as its prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 general elections, and said that the country's destiny is safe in the hands of Narendra Modi.
"Our country's destiny is safe in the hands of Mr. Narendra Modi. And that is why I am happy," Jethmalani told Asian News International (ANI) here.
"But I can tell you that I have no personal ambition of any kind. I am not going to be anything in any government. Today, I am an expelled member of the BJP. I am quite happy, but I will work to see that Narendra Modi succeeds," he added.
Modi earlier this evening thanked his party's central leadership for giving him such an important responsibility, and expressed confidence that the BJP would emerge victorious in the next general elections.
"The BJP has always given me the opportunity to work for progress and development of the party and the nation in various capacities. Today, the BJP's central leadership has given me a very big responsibility," said Modi.
"With the blessings of the national leadership and love of the party workers, I am sure we will win. I whole-heartedly thank the party workers and national leadership," he added.
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Modi assured his party workers and supporters that he would leave no stone unturned in ensuring that the BJP emerges victorious in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
Modi, who will be meeting party stalwart Lal Krishna Advani later in the day, also sought blessings from the people of the country.
He also thanked the NDA partners for their blessings.
BJP President Rajnath Singh earlier announced that his party has chosen Modi as the prime ministerial candidate for 2014.
The announcement came after a meeting of the party's parliamentary board here this evening, which unanimously decided to project Modi as the prime ministerial candidate.
Advani was not present in the parliamentary board meeting.
Several attempts had earlier been made by senior leaders to convince Advani, who had resigned from all party posts when Modi was appointed the election campaign committee chief in Goa earlier this year.
The BJP President even met the stalwart at the latter's residence here on Wednesday, but failed to convince him.