Narendra Modi thanks his secretariat staff

Gandhinagar, May 22: Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi on May 21 thanked the staff of state secretariat for supporting him during his tenure as Chief Minister of Gujarat.

"This is an occasion to express my gratitude. When I got a chance to work with you, I was someone who did not have any experience of the administration," Modi said at his farewell function here attended by IAS, IPS, Indian Forest Service officers and the subordinate staff.

The government employee unions at the secretariat had organised the farewell function for Modi, who served as the Chief Minister for 12 years before leading BJP to a landslide victory in the Lok Sabha polls.

Modi said he had never been to a government office before he became the Chief Minister. "A new world opened to me in 2001. But you people, with your experience, supported me. I had never imagined that I would become the CM one day. But I spent 4,906 days (as the Chief Minister)," he said.

Modi also thanked the staff noting that none of the unions ever went on a strike during his tenure.

PTI