BJP verdict a mandate for Modi popularity: Rajnath

BJP president Rajnath Singh Friday said the verdict for the party in the Lok Sabha election was also a mandate for Narendra Modi's "popularity, capability and reliability" and future responsibilities will be assigned after wide consultations.

Addressing a press conference here, following the party's expected victory, Rajnath Singh said he was happy over the party's victory but it had also brought greater responsibility.

"Probably, it is for the first time a party will get clear majority after the 1984 elections," he said.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president said the party, cutting across social and geographical boundaries, had got support.

"It is mandate for change... It is also a mandate for popularity, capability and reliability of Narendra Modi who was declared the party's prime ministerial candidate," Rajnath Singh said.

Referring to large number of rallies addressed by Modi, the BJP leader said the Gujarat chief minister had campaigned in a manner no other leader had done over the past 65 years.

"This is beginning of a new era," Singh said.

He said there was talk that India's success story is over but "time has come to rewrite the Indian success story."

He greeted party's pre-poll allies and said the BJP would welcome support from any other party in the process of nation building.

Rajnath Singh also appealed to party workers to maintain restraint in the wake of victory.

"Provocative words should not be used against any individual or group," he said.

Answering a query, he said future responsibilities will be fixed after consultations among senior leaders. "It will be done on the basis of wide consensus."