Zee Media Bureau
Panaji: Even as the three-day Nation Executive meeting of the top BJP leaders kicks-off on Friday amid expectations that Narendra Modi might be given bigger responsibilities in the party ahead of the 2014 polls, support has already started pouring in for the Gujarat Chief Minister.
Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar was on Friday quoted as backing Narendra Modi for the prime minister’s post.
“Modi can catapult BJP to power. Modi will take us closer to government formation at the centre,” he said while talking to reporters.
Ïn an indirect attack on senior BJP leaders opposing Modi’s candidature for the top job and the growing factionalism in the party, the Goa Chief Minister said, “Leaders above 65 should introspect if they should retire. Generally they become vegetable as they age."
The reaction from Parrikar came amidst growing speculation that Gujarat CM Narendra Modi’s name might be announced to head the BJP’s Lok Sabha campaign committee, during the party’s national conclave in Goa, though the party seems to be divided on the issue.
Parrikar further said that a decision in this regard should be taken at the Goa conclave, meanwhile senior leader Yashwant Sinha said the national executive is “too large a body to discuss the leadership issue.
With Modi being the top contender for the prime ministerial candidate post, Parrikar also said that the issue should also be decided during the conclave itself.
BJP office-bearers, including parliamentary board members, are meeting today to possibly decide on the issue of campaign committee head and a final opinion on the PM candidate.
BJP cadre and a section of party leaders want Modi to be projected as the prime ministerial candidate soon.
Sources said some of the office-bearers are likely to press for declaring Modi as the campaign committee head during the conclave.
Meanwhile, some of the senior leaders, including Uma Bharti, Jaswant Singh, Shatrughan Sinha and Varun Gandhi, are unlikely to attend the conclave.
With Agency inputs
