Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday vowed to work towards Viksit Bharat and take a giant leap towards the goal over the next five years.

While addressing the national convention of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) 2024 in Delhi’s Bharat Mandapam, he said, “Now the country’s dream and resolve will be bigger. Our dream and resolution is that we have to make Viksit Bharat and the next 5 years will play an important role in it. In the next 5 years, we have to take a giant leap towards Viksit Bharat.”

He also said that the saffron party has to win everyone’s trust and aimed to work with new enthusiasm and new faith in the next 100 days for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

“In the next 100 days, we all have to reach out to every new voter, every beneficiary, every community. We’ve to win everyone’s trust,” he said.

He also urged the party workers to reach the youth and new voters who would be electing the representatives for the 18th Lok Sabha of the country.

“BJP workers keep doing something or the other to serve the country for 24 hours every day of the year but now for the next 100 days is for working with new enthusiasm and new faith. Today is 18th February and the youth who have reached the milestone of 18 years in this period are going to elect the 18th Lok Sabha of the country,” he said.

During his address, he turned emotional and paid his tributes to Jain seer Muni Vidyasagar who breathed his last on Sunday. He said, “Today, I want to pay tribute to Acharya Shri 108 Vidhyasagar Ji Maharaj. After getting information about his death, everyone is deeply saddened. For me, this is a personal loss. I got to meet him and take guidance from him a lot of times. The last time I visited him, I was not aware that I would not be able to have his darshan ever again…”

Muni Vidyasagar undertook “sallekhana”, a Jain religious practice involving voluntary fasting unto death for spiritual purification, at Chandragiri Teerth in Dongargarh in Chhattisgarh’s Rajnandgaon district.

In his address, he also took a dig at the opposition and said that this time even the opposition leaders believe that NDA would win over 400 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

“…Today, the opposition leaders are also raising slogans of ‘NDA sarkar 400 paar’. To take NDA to 400, BJP will have to cross the mark of 370 (seats),” he said.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.