Varanasi, May 27: Prime Minister-elect Narendra Modi lauded the Uttar Pradesh electorate while addressing a thanksgiving rally in Varanasi, the parliamentary constituency from where he has been re-elected. According to Modi, the voters of UP are giving a "new direction" to Indian politics which would end vote bank politics and caste-based rivalry.

The poll pundits obsessed with "20th century theories" will fail to understand the new direction in which the Indian politics is moving into, said Modi. He further claimed that the same section of analysts will turn a blind eye to the back-to-back victories of the BJP in UP. Modi to Take Oath as PM on May 30 at 7pm in Rashtrapati Bhavan

"For three elections in a row, the UP voters have spelled out their mandate in clear terms. Still they may fail to understand the electoral sentiment as they are far away from the ground realities," he said.

Training guns at the erstwhile ruling regimes for practicing "vote bank politics", Modi said they failed to take progressive decisions fearing electoral backlash.

"Had we been practicing vote bank politics, we would had failed to announce 10 per cent reservation for the economically weaker section," he said.

The Prime Minister claimed that the absence of vote bank politics allowed the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh to celebrate Diwali in Ayodhya and to hold a successful kumbh yatra.

"The kumbh yatra was so far being used to present a wrong perception that it is only a gathering of naga sadhus. We changed that perception, brought glory to not only Uttar Pradesh but the entire nation," he added.

In the Lok Sabha polls 2019, BJP succeeded in sweeping Uttar Pradesh once again. Out of the 80 Lok Sabha seats, the party won 63 seats, whereas, its ally Apna Dal bagged another constituency.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 27, 2019 01:26 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).