In span of five years, at a press conference in the BJP headquarters, Modi made his first appearance since he came to power in 2014, but refused to field any media question, leaving the floor for Shah to address them.
“I am a disciplined soldier of the party. The party president is everything for us,” Modi said when asked questions.
Modi, who in a surprise move showed up on the dais at the press conference convened by Shah, gave a speech, exuding confidence that his party would return to power. “A government with full majority (is) coming back after remaining in power for five years. This is probably happening after a very long time. This is a big deal in itself,” Modi said.
Responding to a question to the Prime Minister on the Rafale fighter jet deal, Shah said, “It is not necessary that the Prime Minister responds to every question.”
Calcutta’s famous newspaper The Telegraph has covered the first press conference of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the front page with no headline and a silent zone symbol under which there are pictures of Prime Minister sitting and pondering without taking any questions.
Economic Times covers this with a headline, “PM Press Appearance, not Conference.” It further wrote that this was apolitical move by Modi to appear into a press conference for the first time to woo the voters.
The Indian Express has presented its front page with press conferences of PM Modi and Rahul Gandhi with their quotes. It has also covered how Modi has reacted to Sadhvi Pragnya Thakur’s remark on Nathuram Godse. It has captioned the press conference photo – ‘PM Narendra Modi showed his appearance in Shah’s Press Conference but did not take any questions.’
Hindi Newspapers, Dainik Jagaran and Amar Ujala has headlined the front page story saying Modi shall surge in power once again with full majority and a government with full majority would be formed.
But both the newspapers had also mentioned that it was a surprise to see Prime Minister in Press Conference but he did not answer any questions.