UP BJP eyes poll success after Modi's ascendancy

The Uttar Pradesh unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Friday celebrated Narendra Modi's anointment as the party's prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and promised maximum seats at the hustings.

Party workers danced to drum beats on city roads and raised pro-Modi slogans, distributed sweets and burst crackers. The party headquarters was plastered with BJP flags and buntings for the eventful day.

State party president Laxmikant Bajpayi said he was thankful to the central parliamentary board for taking into account the aspirations of party workers and naming Modi as its prime ministerial candidate.

He told IANS the country was standing at a turning point and Indians were yearning for a change and Modi's ascendancy as party's PM candidate had gone down well with the people.

Celebrations were also reported from Allahabad, Ghaziabad, Gorakhpur, Kanpur, Meerut, Moradabad, Varanasi, Vrindavan and other places.

Party spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak said the development had enthused party workers and they would be working hard to securing maximum seats in the LS polls. BJP holds 10 seats in the state that sends 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha.