Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday thanked Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh for selecting him appointing him as the chairman of BJP's Election Campaign Committee for the 2014 polls, saying that he was extremely honoured by the decision.
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Describing the state of Goa as a lucky mascot for himself, Modi said that it was this very state in 2001-02 from where BJP leaders had chosen him to lead the party and manage affairs in Gujarat, and added that the results were there for all to see.
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BJP president Rajnath Singh, alongwith party leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley greeted Modi after he was anointed as chairman of the BJP election campaign committee for the 2014 polls at the party's National Executive meeting here.
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"I am grateful to Rajnath Singh (BJP president) for giving me this responsibility. I am extremely honoured to hold this office. Rajnath Singh has a large heart, has inspired us to work hard. I have been given a responsibility for a new task. I will give this opportunity everything that God has given me," Modi said.
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"When did I ever know that I would be entrusted with this position and this responsibility? The BJP believes in hard work. We are all workers and, it is our responsibility to do whatever is entrusted to us," he added.
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"The elders of the party have molded me. Many great politicians have put their energy and work and time behind me, as much as they must have given their own children," the Gujarat chief minister said further.
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Training his guns on the Congress-ruled UPA Government for what he called as its era of misrule, Modi said: "The Congress is corruption proof. They aren't even affected by allegations, they laugh it off shamelessly."
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"You can neither have expectations from (the UPA) Government at the Centre, nor trust it," he added.
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Questioning the process of appointing governors in various states of the India, Modi said: "Raj Bhawans had become Congress Bhawans," suggesting that only favourites of the ruling regime at the Centre were being given gubernatorial post-retirement assignments.
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Reiterating that India was facing a crisis of confidence under a corruption-ridden and administratively inefficient UPA regime, the Gujarat chief minister further said that in states where the Congress was not in power, a brash and willful UPA Government had employed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and other constitutionally-appointed mechanisms to suppress opposition.
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"This shows they (UPA) have no faith in democratic institutions," an aggressive Modi said.
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Describing himself as simply being a worker of the party (BJP), Modi said: "Today, after being elevated as the chief of the party's poll panel, I want to tell everyone that in the BJP, position is responsibility, and a balance has to be maintained between position and responsibility."
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"We are all workers of the party. And, as workers, we are obliged to do our best to fulfill any responsibility that has been given to us. Well begun is half won," he added.
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