Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said the BJP’s win in the recent Assembly polls was not anyone’s personal victory but a collective triumph of party workers.

‘’Don’t distance me from the public by making me ‘Modi ji’. I am Modi. Victory in the Assembly elections is party workers’ win, don’t consider it Modi’s victory,” he said addressing a meeting of BJP Members of Parliament here. ‘’It was the result of our hard work,’’ he added.

Briefing the media after the meeting, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi said the PM appreciated everyone’s work. He also said that all BJP MPs and ministers have to participate in Vikas Bharat Sankalp Yatra from December 22 to January 25.

The minister said the PM shared an interesting fact at the meeting. He pointed out that the Congress, while being in government, faced elections 40 times in states and got success only seven times. The BJP, on the other hand, got a chance to seek a repeat mandate 39 times and got success 22 times.

“Our (victory) percentage is 56 per cent and Congress’s is 18 per cent. Thus the figures prove that people’s biggest choice now is BJP,” Joshi quoted the PM as telling the BJP MPs.

Mr Modi also stated that only four castes exist – women, youth, farmers and the poor– and the party and the government have to work for their overall development.

The PM received a rousing reception from party MPs amid chants of “Modi ji ka swagat hai” on his arrival for the meeting. BJP President J P Nadda garlanded the PM amid a thunderous applause. The meeting was also attended by Home Minister Amit Shah, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and other senior leaders.

This was the first meeting of BJP MPs after the recent Assembly polls in which the saffron party succeeded in retaining power in Madhya Pradesh and dislodged Congress from office in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. However, there is still suspense over who will be the new chief ministers of the three states with the party’s central leadership holding intense discussions over the issue.