Jerusalem : Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has personally congratulated his counterpart Narendra Modi over a phone call, hours after he became the first world leader to do so through Twitter. Prime Minister Narendra Modi led his Bharatiya Janata Party to a super-sized victory for a second term in office, winning an absolute majority bagging 272 of the 458 seats, results of which were declared past midnight, and was on course to touch the 300-seat mark in the 543-member Lok Sabha.
"Narendra my friend, congratulations! What an enormous victory! I hope Narendra that we can see each other soon, as soon as you form a government and as soon as we form a government," Netanyahu was seen saying in a short video clip of the phone call released by the PMO here Thursday. Modi can neither be seen or heard in the clip. The two leaders were scheduled to meet on February 11 before the elections in Israel but Netanyahu called off his trip to New Delhi due to other engagements.
The right-wing bloc in Israel registered a victory in the parliamentary elections, winning 65 out of 120 seats, with Netanyahu's Likud party bagging 35 seats, five more than the last general elections in 2015. However, the Israeli prime minister lamented over the difficulties faced by him in forging a coalition after he was assigned the task by President Reuven Rivlin.
"Well, thank you for your congratulations on my victory, but there's one difference: You don't need a coalition, I do," Netanyahu said over the phone. The Israeli PM has to cobble together a coalition before the final deadline of May 28. PTI
