Modi enters 20th year as elected govt head sans break

BJP leaders on Wednesday heaped praise on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his leadership as he entered his 20th year without a break as the head of an elected government, including close to 13 years as chief minister of Gujarat.

Party president J P Nadda said October 7, 2001, when Modi was sworn in as Gujarat chief minister for the first time, is a "milestone" in India's political history.

Modi has since been notching up bigger victories and his popularity has only gone up, Nadda said on Twitter.

The party also tweeted details of many of Modi's key schemes during his 19 years as the head of a government.

Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri lauded Modi for "20 years in service of humanity & Maa Bharati with dedication, vision & selflessness".

"Heartiest congratulations to PM @narendramodi Ji for becoming the only democratically elected world leader to serve the people continuously for 20 years since 2001," Puri said.

Be it as chief minister of Gujarat or as prime minister of the world's largest democracy, Modi has always been a crusader for people's welfare, the party said.

"PM Sri @narendramodi Ji has completed 6941 successful days in total as CM of Gujarat & PM of India. One of the unblemished tenures ever seen. Kept public welfare as a priority and never worried about himself. Always kept sovereignty & pride of India intact," its spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi tweeted.

Modi, who turned 70 last month, started as an RSS volunteer and then served in the BJP's organisation for many years before the party leadership sent him to Gujarat, his home state, as its chief minister in 2001.

Since then, he has never tasted electoral defeat and led the BJP to power in the state three straight times before steering the party to its biggest, until then, Lok Sabha poll win in 2014 and then scripting an even bigger win in the 2019 general elections.