PM Modi lauds party workers after BJP, allies form govts in 3 northeast states: Top quotes

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated BJP workers at the party's headquarters in New Delhi on Thursday after election results of Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalya showed that the saffron party and its allies would be forming the governments in all three states.

Here are the top quotes from the PM's speech:

• Lotus is blooming everywhere. I thank the people of Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland for their blessings. I thank the party workers in northeast for their hard work.
• Today whenever I could watch TV, I saw results of Northeast all over ... This is not a result of less distance between hearts but a reflection of a new ideology. Northeast is no longer far from Delhi and from our hearts. Today's poll results show people have faith in democracy.
• Providing tap water, electricity, gas connections and houses in the Northeast was not even on their list of work ... previous govts escaped from difficulties and left people here to suffer.
• I express my gratitude to women of Northeast. It is for the first time women candidates have won elections and reached Vidhan Sabha (Nagaland).
• Many political analysts are trying to understand reason for victory of BJP. Some of our well-wishers want to know the reason. The reason is 'Triveni'. It means the combination of three streams. One is the work of our state governments, other is their work culture and third is the 'Sewa Bhav' of our Karyakartas.
• Some people saying 'mar ja Modi', country saying 'mat ja (don't go away) Modi'.
• Minorities were made fearful about BJP for years but people of Goa and now from northeast have exposed the propaganda.

The BJP on Thursday successfully retained its iron grip on the northeastern states, a region where it had little to no presence before 2014, after securing victories in both Tripura and Nagaland.

In Meghalaya, where the BJP went solo this time, the party has extended support to Conrad Sangma's National People’s Party (NPP) in forming government in the state.

The elections for Tripura assembly were held on February 16, where 89.95% of the 28.14 lakh voters exercised their franchise. The elections for Meghalaya and Nagaland assemblies were conducted on February 27.


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