BJP President Amit Shah today hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the country’s “tallest leader” since Independence and credited his pro-poor polices for the party’s landslide win in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand assembly polls.

He also asserted that the BJP will form the government in Goa and Manipur, where it has not got a majority, and claimed that the verdict will mark the end of the politics of caste, nepotism and appeasement and the beginning of the politics of performance.

With party functionaries celebrating an early Holy in and outside the organisation’s headquarters, a jubilant Shah told a packed press conference that the BJP Parliamentary Board will finalise the names of the chief ministerial nominees in its meeting tomorrow.

However, an announcement is expected to be made only after legislature party meetings in these states.

“The only factor for the win is the performance of the Modi government. The outcome has shown the faith the poor have reposed in Modi...Even his political rivals will have to admit that he has emerged as the tallest leader in the country since Independence,” he said.

He described the victory in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand as the biggest since Independence.

Despite defeat in Punjab, the Akali Dal-BJP alliance has got over 30 per cent votes, he said.

He also made light of BSP supremo Mayawati’s allegations that electronic voting machine (EVMs) were tampered with in UP to favour the BJP and said he can understand her state of mind. The BSP’s tally was reduced to a paltry 19 seats in the 403—seat assembly.

The BJP’s win in UP marks an spectacular end to its 15 years of wilderness in the state’s politics and Shah said it will live “cent per cent” to the faith people have reposed in it and delivered on the promises it has made in its manifesto.

The new government will waive loans of small and marginal farmers in its first cabinet meeting, he said while playing down its stand on contentious issues like the construction of Ram temple.

“You should refer to our ‘sankalp patra’ (manifesto),” he said. The BJP has maintained that it wants a temple under the constitutional provisions with either a court verdict or dialogue.

Asked whether the party will keep UP’s complex caste equation in mind when it decides its chief ministerial candidate, he said merit will be the sole criteria.

State BJP chief Keshav Prasad Maurya and Union minister Manoj Sinha are being seen as probable contenders for the top post.

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