A day after the anointment of Narendra Modi as the BJP's prime ministerial nominee, an upbeat party president Rajnath Singh Saturday asserted that it would bag at least 272 seats – the halfway mark – in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

 

 "We are hopeful that with the support of our allies, the National Democratic Alliance will bag more than 272 seats and come to power in the next parliamentary elections," he said at a function to inaugurate the new Bombay Bullion Association headquarters here.

 

 Attacking the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, Singh said that the Congress-led coalition has pushed the country into an economic mess in the past ten years of its rule.

 

 He said that considering the strength of the economy during the NDA rule under (prime minister) Atal Bihari Vajpayee, it was expected that the country would become an economic power by 2020.

 

 However, in the past ten years, the country's economic condition has been destroyed and the people are reeling under heavy inflation, contended the BJP chief.

 

 "After coming to power in the next elections, we shall make attempts to again revive and strengthen the economy," he asserted.

 

 BBA president Mohit Kamboj said that the gold trading community had great expectations from the BJP and would help the party in all ways to enable it come to achieve its aims in 2014.

 

 Maharashtra is special to BJP where it has a nearly two-decade old alliance with the Shiv Sena and the two have shared power once in the state and the centre.

 

 Later, Rajnath Singh also visited and prayed at the famous Lalbaugcha Raja Lord Ganesh idol in Parel.

 

 –Indo-Asian News Service