Ahmedabad:
The announcement of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate was celebrated across the state by party workers and others who set off fire crackers and distributed sweets.
Mrs Hiraba, Modi's mother, was offered sweets by Pankaj Modi, the Chief Minister's younger brother with whom she is currently living at his house in sector-22 in Gandhinagar.
Hundreds of BJP workers started to burst fire-crackers outside the BJP headquarters in Ahmedabad as state BJP chief RC Faldu informed them about the development. It was accompanied by drum-beating and slogan-shouting.
Workers gathered in large number at BJP offices across the state in anticipation of the announcement.
Large-scale celebrations were witnessed in Vadodara, Surat, Valsad and Rajkot, among other places.
Mr Modi's supporters and even ordinary people were seen distributing sweets and congratulating each other.
"Today, while the country, under UPA government, is pushed into the darkness, while people are aspiring for an able and powerful leader, the announcement of Narendra Modi as PM candidate has come at a very crucial and right moment," said Faldu, addressing workers outside BJP office in Ahmedabad.
"I, on behalf of whole of Gujarat and BJP, welcome this announcement and congratulate the Parliamentary Board," he added.