Mumbai, June 8 (IANS): Ahead of the swearing-in of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Cabinet at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Sunday, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has said that this is a historic moment for the nation and all the allies of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) are happy and elated over it.

Speaking exclusively to IANS, the Maharashtra CM said the Shiv Sena party has extended full support to Modi government because of its tremendous work in the last 10 years.

Below is the full interview:

IANS: PM Modi has been chosen as the leader of the NDA Parliamentary party. What do you have to say about this?

Eknath Shinde: It was a historic and happy moment for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). A crucial NDA meeting took place under the leadership of PM Modi at the Central Hall of Parliament, where all the alliance parties including our Shiv Sena supported him for the Prime Minister post.

Narendra Modi will become the Prime Minister for the third consecutive time. This is a historic moment for India. Over the past decade, the development works undertaken by Modi government and the Prime Minister's forward-thinking approach has resonated well with the public.

Despite the Opposition spreading rumours and false narratives, including claims that the Constitution would be amended, the nation has dismissed these claims and given a majority to PM Modi-led NDA.

IANS: What do you have to say about the Lok Sabha poll results in Maharashtra?

Eknath Shinde: Rumours and false narratives have been spread among the people on a large scale. Vote bank politics has been done. Confusions were deliberately created. There were talks of changing the Constitution and decreasing the reservation quota. But those who indulged in vote-bank politics will be exposed before the people soon. The late Bal Thackeray never liked such vote-bank politics.

Our strike rate in this election has improved. We got 2 lakh more votes in Mumbai than our rival faction. We have 14 per cent of the total 19 per cent vote share for the Shiv Sena. We contested 15 seats and won seven... the UBT camp contested 22 and won nine, which proves that our strike rate is better and the people are with us.

IANS: INDIA bloc was not able to stop PM Modi from becoming Prime Minister one more time. What do you have to say?

Eknath Shinde: The reason behind INDIA bloc's failure is their lack of a credible agenda and relying only on the slogan 'Modi hatao' (remove Modi). They had no vision, whereas PM Modi had a clear agenda focused on the development and progress of the nation. Their attempts to stop PM Modi from becoming the Prime Minister again turned out futile because the public supported PM Modi and his leadership.