Trump calls Modi, congratulates him on BJP's Assembly
election victory
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| US President Donald Trump and India Prime Minister Narendra Modi |
Press
secretary sean spicer told reporters that trump congratulated modi and german
chancellor angela merkel on their electoral victories.
The
white house said the leaders spoke by phone. "the president spoke with
german chancellor merkel and indian prime minister modi earlier today to
congratulate them on their parties' success in recent elections," spicer
said.
Following the elections held in five states that begun on
february 4 and ended on march 9 after polling was rescheduled in some
constituencies, modi's bharatiya janata party formed the government in four
states: uttar pradesh, uttarakhand, goa and manipur.
It, however, lost punjab to main rival congress in the
results announced on march 11.
Anchored mainly by modi and his aide amit shah, the bjp
juggernaut rolled on in uttar pradesh and in the neighbouring state of
uttarakhand, bagging three-fourth majority.
The bjp returned to power in the politically-crucial state of
up after a gap of 15 years during which regional parties such as the samajwadi
party and the bahujan samaj party held sway.
Goa and manipur had hung assemblies after the polls, but the
bjp managed to form the government with support from other regional parties.
The elections in the five states had turned into a virtual
referendum on modi's popularity following his much-debated decision to
demonetise rs 500 and rs 1,000 currency notes.
Previously, modi and trump talked by phone on january 24,
when they had resolved to stand "shoulder-to-shoulder" in the global
fight against terrorism and for defence and security.
According to a white house statement then, trump had
"emphasised that the us considers india a true friend and partner in
addressing challenges around the world."
The two leaders had exchanged invitations for visits.
"president trump looked forward to hosting prime minister modi in the us
later this year," the statement had said.
Prime minister modi was the fifth foreign leader trump had
spoken to on phone after he was sworn-in as the us president on january 20. He
had by then spoken to british prime minister theresa may, canada's justin
trudeau, mexican president enrique pena nieto, israeli prime minister benjamin
netanyahu and the egyptian president abdel fattah el-sisi.
After his surprise victory in the november 8 elections in the
us, modi was among the first world leaders to congratulate trump. And during
the gruelling election campaign, india and israel were the two prominent
countries trump spoke of strengthening ties if he were to become the president.
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