Quantcast
Channel: The Real Singapore - Politics
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 937

Supporters hail Narendra Modi's emphatic victory in Indian elections

$
0
0

India's incoming prime minister Narendra Modi has been greeted by hundreds of jubilant supporters as he arrived in New Delhi from his home state of Gujarat.

The day after leading the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to a landslide election victory, Mr Modi was mobbed by hundreds of flag-waving supporters at the capital's main airport before waving to hundreds more who lined the streets on his drive to the city centre.

At BJP headquarters, Mr Modi congratulated grass-roots campaigners who showered him with pink rose petals.

He also met other party leaders and was expected to start discussions about forming a cabinet.

BJP officials said Mr Modi would not formally take office until after Tuesday.

The win has given India its first parliamentary majority after 25 years of coalition governments, with BJP claiming six times more seats than the Congress party.

With almost all 543 seats declared by Saturday morning, the BJP looked set to win 282 seats, 10 more than the majority required to rule.

With its allied parties, BJP was heading for a comfortable tally of around 337, the clearest result since the 1984 assassination of prime minister Indira Gandhi propelled her son Rajiv to office.
During the campaign, Mr Modi was explicit about wanting to end the dominance of the Nehru-Gandhi family on Indian politics.

The Congress party's tally has been reduced to just 44 seats, less than half its previous worst result.

Outgoing prime minister Manmohan Singh was magnanimous in his final address to the nation on Saturday, wishing the incoming government success.

In a televised message, Mr Singh said he was confident about the future of India.

"I firmly believe that the emergence of India as a major powerhouse of the evolving global economy is an idea whose time has come," he said.

In his home state of Gujarat, Mr Modi told supporters he was confident of the future.

"I want to make the 21st century India's century. It will take 10 years, not very long," he said.

"India is our mother. How can we watch our mother cry?"

 

In his speech, the prime minister-elect pledged to make good governance and development cornerstones of his administration.

"People used to believe that you couldn't run an election on the basis of development, that to win an election you had to hand out scraps to people," Mr Modi said.

"Modi will be PM with the BJP winning, that's been decided, but I am thinking ahead.

"Those politicians who don't believe in development, who ran away from development during the election, they too will accept development as an election platform in the coming days."

 

Read the rest of the article here: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-16/narendra-modi-declares-victory-in-...

 

Tags: 

Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 937

Trending Articles