I am not bigger than my party: Narendra Modi

An emotional Modi seeks to down play his larger-than-life image saying he is not bigger than the BJP, his "mother", reports Rathin Das.

A triumphant Narendra Modi on Monday sought to quash talk of him overshadowing his party, saying that he was not "bigger" than the BJP, which was his "mother". Modi was speaking to the newly-elected party MLAs who unanimously elected him as their leader for the next five years.

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Earlier in the morning, Modi called on Governor Naval Kishore Sharma to hand over the resignation of his outgoing ministry and formally stake claim to form the new ministry in the state. The swearing-in ceremony is scheduled on Tuesday coinciding with the birthday of former PM Atal Behari Vajpayee.

Modi was overcome by emotion and his eyes were moist. "Those who say Modi is bigger than the party do not know what the history of BJP and Jan Sangh is. The son cannot ever be bigger than the mother," he said.

Modi hit out at the media for projecting him as bigger than the organisation. "It is vikrut manssikta (perverted mindset) to say that Modi is bigger than the party. My image appears to be bigger because of the limitation of your lenses which stop at me. But if you were to widen your focus, you could see thousands of BJP workers who have lifted me up on their shoulders," he added.

"This re-election is enough indication that we are treading on the right path," Modi said, adding that the future government of Gujarat will continue to work on the same lines as it had done in the past.