Mumbai, April 27: The BJP on Monday said there is "no
division" in the party over the issue of Narendra Modi "as
Prime Minister material" but the strategy for 2014 polls will
be decided later, a day after the Gujarat Chief Minister
himself downplayed the talk of his being the PM candidate in
the next polls.
"We are now discussing 2009 polls and L K Advani as
Prime Minister. The party's strategy for 2014 will be decided
later. There is no division in the party over the issues of
Narendra Modi as Prime Minister material," BJP Vice-President
Venkaiah Naidu told reporters here, when asked about a section
of BJP rooting for Narendra Modi as future Prime Ministerial
candidate.
58-year-old Modi had yesterday downplayed the talk of
his succeeding Advani saying, "Advaniji will be our prime
ministerial candidate even in 2014 elections."
BJP leader Arun Shourie had indicated that Modi could
be BJP's prime ministerial candidate in future, a view that
was endorsed by senior leader Arun Jaitley and Naidu himself.
However, they made it clear that Advani will be the party's
prime ministerial candidate for the current poll.
Referring to Shourie's comment, Naidu said, Shourie
was "asked a question and it was not his statement".
Asked whether Modi could succeed Advani as the PM
candidate, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, meanwhile,
said as far as his knowledge the issue "was not at all being
debated in the party.”
The only issue at present is to make senior BJP
Leader L K Advani as the Prime Minister of the country," the
BJP leader said in Bhopal.
"Narendra Modi has made his state a model state in the
country and was successful in establishing himself as the best
Chief Minister in the country. But how long this experiment
will go in the country cannot be said now," Singh told
reporters when asked if Modi had qualities of a prime
minister.
Bureau Report
First Published: Monday, April 27, 2009, 00:00