BJP leaders hail Modi as it returns to power in UP, U'khand

BJP President Amit Shah today attributed the party's stunning win in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand assembly polls to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, calling him the "tallest leader after independence".
Modi himself described the big victores as "very humbling and overwhelming".
Top leaders of the party, which captured power in UP with an unprecedented three-fourths majority, ascribed the win to the Modi government's "pro-poor policies" like Jan Dhan and demonetisation.
State BJP chief Keshav Prasad Maurya said the 'Modi wave' has catapulted the party to power in a big way.
Shah also asserted that the poll outcome will change the course of country's politics, marking the end of the politics of caste, nepotism and appeasement, and the beginning of the politics of performance.

Buoyed by the mandate received by the BJP, Modi termed it "very humbling and overwhelming" and thanked the people for their "continued faith and support".

"Am overjoyed that BJP has received unprecedented support from all sections of society. Huge support from the youth is gladdening. Gratitude to the people of India for the continued faith, support and affection for the BJP. This is very humbling & overwhelming," he said in a series of tweets.
Addressing a packed press conference in the national capital, Shah said even opposition parties will admit that Modi has emerged as the country's "tallest leader since independence" after these victories.

He also asserted that BJP will form government in Goa and Manipur, where no party has got a clear majority. The party's Parliamentary Board will meet tomorrow to finalise the names of chief ministerial nominees.
Terming the poll verdict that marked the party's return to power after 15 years of political wilderness as historic, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said it is an endorsement of the central government's policies and the poor have shifted their allegiance to the BJP.
"BJP's landslide victory in assembly elections has again established that people of India want development as pushed by Modi," he said.
Maurya said, "It is a Modi wave. The wave which started with 2014 Lok Sabha elections is continuing in 2017 and the momentum will go beyond the 2019 general elections."

"The credit goes to Prime Minister Modi, his government's pro-poor policies and party chief Amit Shah's strategy. People have fought the elections on our behalf in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand and results have vindicated their faith in us," party general secretary Kailash Vijaywargia said.
Terming the massive win in Uttar Pradesh as the victory of
the policies of the Modi government and a thumbs up to its two-and-half year rule, Irani said in BJP merit wins over dynasty.
"This is the one political organisation which has made a humble citizen as the prime minister of the country," she said.
The Union Textile Minister also took a dig at Rahul and Priyanka, saying this is a failure of both the Congress leaders.

"One has to do justice. Priyanka was very much a part of the strategy. I think the sibling (Priyanka) waiting in the wings has equally failed. So to say only Rahul has failed will be an injustice to him," Irani said.
Attributing the victories to the Modi-led government's good governance and good delivery of promises, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said "The poor have given a decisive verdict that Modi is our leader and is working for our welfare."
Echoing similar sentiments, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said that the party won the elections due to the credibility of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that he enjoys across the country.

"The most important contribution of Modi phenomenon is that it has enabled voters to cast votes for development, rising above the caste, creed, religion. It has helped them get rid of the feudal mindset," he said.
Meanwhile, Union minister Sanjiv Balyan denied that there was a division on the communal lines in the Uttar Pradesh.
"The election was fought on issues like law and order, development. The new generation understood the importance of bringing in the BJP," he said.
BJP MP from Gorakhpur Adityanath said that the SP-Congress alliance and the BSP have been rejected by the people in UP.

(Reopens DEL194)
In a Twitter post, BJP President Amit Shah dedicated the victory to the party's "karyakartas who selflessly devoted themselves to expand our ideology and party base."
Union Ministers and BJP leaders also took to the microblogging site to post congratulatory messages and their assessment of the BJP's success in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand and large gains in Manipur.
"BJP's electoral gain in Manipur is a reiteration of support by the people of the North East for PM @narendramodi ji's 'Act East' policy," Union Textiles Minister Smriti Irani tweeted.
Another leader Subramanian Swamy, a strong votary of the construction of a temple on the disputed site in Ayodhya, said he expects that the incoming Uttar Pradesh government will not oppose him on this front anymore.

"On March 21, I will go before Supreme Court and ask for early day to day hearing of the Ram Mandir case. I expect now UP govt will not oppose me (sic)," Swamy tweeted.
Power Minister Piyush Goyal said the verdict was a "clear mandate" of Modi's "pro-Poor policies, good governance, deMonetisation and model of Development.
"Mandate is to serve the dalit, peedit, shoshit, vanchit, mahila & yuva who have reposed faith in our philosophy of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas," Goyal tweeted.