New Delhi: The ruling NDA has claimed that the BJP's performance in the recent state elections has established Prime Minister Narendra Modi as India's "most popular leader" after independence.
The resolution adopted by the BJP and its 32 allies, including Shiv Sena, which has often criticised the Modi government, at their Monday meeting credited his pro-poor and welfare policies for the saffron party's "win" in four states.
The BJP notched up unprecedented victories in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand but won fewer seats than the Congress' tally in Manipur and Goa. It formed governments by stitching up alliances with local parties, with the Congress crying foul over the development.
Its president Amit Shah Shah had made the claim of Modi being the most popular Indian leader after independence soon after the state election results were announced.
The endorsement of Shah's statement by all the allies indicate Modi's sway over the ruling alliance which is looking at him to deliver another victory when the country votes for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
"This mandate (state results) has established Modi on the people's mind as the most popular leader after independence," the resolution said.
It said India has emerged as a leading developing economy under Modi's "extraordinary" leadership and economic experts and institutions have acknowledged it as a "great achievement".
While the previous Congress-led UPA government left behind a "corrupt and supine" governance structure, the Modi-led NDA government changed it and took every section of the society along as it worked on its development agenda, it said.
Underlining the government's commitment to taking India forward, it called upon the people to re-elect the ruling alliance again to power under Modi in 2019.
The idea of people's welfare and overall development is the identity of the government, it said highlighting a number of government schemes.
