Modi govt made me work harder: Jaitley

Overwhelmed by the progress the nation is making under the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led-NDA government, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday said he is in politics for a long time, but the kind of hard work he has been doing for the past two years has never done before.

Addressing a press conference on the completion of two years of the NDA government, Jaitley said, "For the very first time it has happened in the history of the nation that a government is working with a constant pace to fulfil the promises it made."

"This is the first government in the history of Indian which has not waited to complete maximum work at the 11th hour, and has done its job working hard in the initial two years," said Jaitley.

"I have no inhabitations in accepting that when Atatji was the Prime Minister, I was given responsibilities at the government and party level. After that I also served as the leader of opposition and toiled a lot to expose the Congress government. But, all the Union Ministers are working so hard under a government, I have experienced it for the first time and the result of which is visible," he added.

Hailing the patience that the BJP maintained in its initial years, Jaitley said the saffron party kept on making relentless endeavours and today is at the position no one would have ever imagined.

"We just had two seats in 1984, and then we lost the elections but did not lose courage and hope. Our principle did not change. And, slowly the BJP, which was confined to north Indian states, slowly started spreading it wings across the nation," Jaitley said.

"We are at such a strong position in the nation that I am sure that our veterans like Deen Dayal Upadhyay and Atal Bihari Vajpayee wouldn't have imagined such a massive success for our party. We have government in 15 states. And the Congress will lose in how many more states, will be decided in the span of one year," he added.

Bragging the current political status the BJP is enjoying, Jaitley said, "The situation is such that now other political parties are pondering that the Congress will fight the BJP or the regional parties will form an alliance to counter us."

The Union Minister also appreciated the odds that Prime Minister Modi fought in becoming a loving leader he is today.

"After 2002, all tried to malign the image of Modiji; all sorts of negative publicity was done against him, but he did not succumb to it," Jaitley said.

"When Modiji goes abroad, the kind of people's attendance we witness is extraordinary. The atmosphere is same when Modiji rallies in India. People across the world feel proud to call themselves Indians," he added.