Exuding confidence in returning to his 7 Lok Kalyan Marg residence for a third, straight term in office, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his fellow citizens have come to realise that the country is poised for a giant leap and want their aspirations to take wings at the earliest.
The BJP swept three heartland states -- Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh -- that went to Assembly polls last month, building a good head of steam and electoral momentum going into the Lok Sabha polls next year.
In an interview with the UK-based daily Financial Times, Prime Minister Modi said the Indians now appreciate and acknowledge that the country is on the cusp of take-off and want "this flight to be expedited".
His remark is being seen in the context of the next general elections, which are scheduled to be held between April and May 2024.
PM Modi said he was "very confident of victory", invoking his government's track record in bringing "solid change in the common man's life".
"Today, the people of India have very different aspirations from the ones they had 10 years back," PM Modi said in the interview, adding, "They realise that our nation is on the cusp of a take-off. They want this flight to be expedited, and they know the best party to ensure this is the one which brought them this far."
In the recent Assembly elections to five states, the BJP, with PM Modi at the front and centre of its campaign pitch, won resounding mandates in the heartland states, stumping not just their rivals but also some pollsters who had predicted tight races in MP, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.
The BJP swept Rajasthan, defying exit-poll projections of a tight race and winning 115 seats. The Congress came a distant second with 69 seats.
A first-time MLA from Sanganer, Bhajan Lal Sharma, took the oath as the Rajasthan chief minister on December 15.
Diya Kumari and Prem Chand Bairwa were also sworn in as deputy chief ministers of the desert state.
In neighbouring Chhattisgarh, Vishnu Sai, who won four consecutive terms in the Lok Sabha from the Raigarh constituency from 1999 to 2014, was sworn in as chief minister on December 13.
Of the 90 assembly constituencies in Chhattisgarh, the BJP bagged 54 while the tally of the incumbent, Congress, was reduced to 35.
In Madhya Pradesh, the BJP, despite battling close to 20 years of anti-incumbency, won a rousing mandate, bagging 163 seats, while the Congress saw its tally drop to 66 seats.
BJP MLA Mohan Yadav, another surprise pick by the party top brass for CM, was also administered his oath of office on December 13.
Fellow party leaders Jagdish Devda and Rajendra Shukla took oath as the deputy chief ministers of the state.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
