Zee Media Bureau
New Delhi: Gujarat Chief Minister and BJP’s poll campaign and strategy committee chief Narendra Modi is most likely to contest the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from two states, reports said on Thursday.
If sources are to be believed then the firebrand BJP leader will be contesting the 2014 General Elections from two Lok Sabha constituencies, one in Gujarat and the other in Uttar Pradesh.
Party sources claim that BJP’s parent organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), is keen on Modi contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha polls from Uttar Pradesh.
The RSS central leadership believes that it is important for the party to remain focussed on politically significant states like Uttar Pradesh, if the BJP aims to dislodge the Congress government from power at the centre.
That’s probably the reason why the RSS acted as a peacemaker between Modi and BJP veteran LK Advani, when the latter resigned from all party posts in the wake of Gujarat chief minister’s elevation as the party’s poll panel chief.
Another reason why the RSS wants Modi to contest and get elected from Uttar Pradesh is his growing criticism that he is only a leader of Gujarat and not acceptable outside his state.
Interestingly, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi will be contesting from the Amethi seat in Uttar Pradesh.
Modi`s close aide and former Gujarat Home Minister Amit Shah, who is the BJP’s in-charge for UP, has been given the responsibility to find the best possible option for Modi.
Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav has taken a swipe at Modi and said that he is free to contest the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from anywhere in Uttar Pradesh but not welcome in the SP-ruled state.
Replying to questions on speculation that Modi would contest from Lucknow or Varanasi, Yadav said: "He is free to contest from anywhere in the state though he is unwelcome as the people of Uttar Pradesh are peace-loving and would not like to be divided on communal lines."
Yadav has been critical of Modi, calling him a "media creation" and one who was divisive in his politics. Yadav had recently slammed a section of the media for giving undue publicity to Modi. He had said that the media ignored development in other states.
BJP leaders say that Yadav is rattled at the prospects of the "Modi juggernaut" rolling into Uttar Pradesh as it would imperil Yadav`s Muslim vote bank, which would then be divided between the SP and the Congress.
With a history of tactical voting by Muslims in the state, even SP leaders are not ruling this out.
Yadav`s SP has 22 MPs and the party is working to increase the number. He has repeatedly expressed his ambition to become the prime minister.
