Elections 2014: Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and others congratulate Narendra Modi for resounding victory

NEW DELHI: BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi has started getting congratulatory messages from global readers as soon as it became clear that the party is set to form the next government with a resounding victory in the Lok Sabha elections.

While UK Prime Minister David Cameron and Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa telephoned Modi, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina sent congratulatory letters to both Modi and BJP President Rajnath Singh.

Earlier, Cameron tweeted on Modi’s victory. “Congratulations @narendramodi on victory in India's elections. Keen to work together to get the most from UK-India relationship,” the British premier wrote. After staying away from having any contacts with the Gujarat chief minister in the backdrop of the 2002 Gujarat riots, the UK reached out to Modi in 2012 when its High Commissioner to India James Bevan met him. Last year Cameron indicated his government’s wish to do business with Modi even as the US was in two minds to engage the BJP leader.

Prime Minister Hasina, under whose rule India-Bangladesh ties have reached new heights, invited both Modi and Singh to visit Dhaka. “The decisive verdict given by the people of your great country is a strong testimony to your dynamic, inspiring and visionary leadership qualities and manifestation of the trust and confidence reposed in you by the people of the largest democracy in the world,” Hasina wrote in her letter addressed to Modi.

“I most warmly invite you, Excellency, to visit Bangladesh at your earliest convenience and hope that you would find my country your second home and first destination for your official visit abroad,” the letter added.

In her letter to Singh, Hasina recalled former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s support for her country’s 1971 War of Independence and invited the BJP chief to visit Dhaka at the earliest.

Rajapaksa, while congratulating Modi, invited him on an official visit to Sri Lanka, president's spokesman Mohan Samaranayake said.