After steering his party to a thumping victory, Narendra Modi drove straight into Parliament’s Central Hall on Tuesday, and was elected by all his 283 MPs as their undisputed leader in Parliament. Modi is scheduled to meet the President at 3.15 p.m.
Before entering Parliament House, Modi bowed down and touched the floor with his head as a mark of respect. After veteran BJP leader LK Advani proposed his name, all MPs endorsed it enthusiastically by thumping tables.
"I propose Mr Modi's name as the leader of the BJP's parliamentary party," Mr Advani said. The proposal was seconded by senior BJP leaders such as Murli Manohar Joshi, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Nitin Gadkari and Venkaiah Naidu.
In his speech, an emotional Modi said: “I accept the responsibility you have reposed in me. You will never get an opportunity to look down on what my government will do.”
Reacting to Advani’s speech in which he said Modi had done a ‘kripa’ (favour) to the party by leading it to a massive victory, Modi evoked the memory of organisations such as Jan Sangh, saying “I am not doing any favour, only performing a duty; this victory is a result of struggle of five generations.”
In his 30-minute speech, Modi, he said he was a die-hard optimistic. “I want to assure people there is no need for pessimism going by the past bad experience; country has huge potential,” he said, leaving “the past bad experience” open to interpretation.
Addressing his MPs and allies, and the country from the Central Hall, the PM-designate, who rode to power on the planks of development and governance, said that he would try to live up to expectations of people. “I will present a report card to people in 2019,” he declared.