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Rajnath Singh in Bhopal on Sunday. (PTI) |
Feb. 3: The BJP has kept Narendra Modi in the national picture by flagging him as a “popular leader” and suggesting that a candidate for Prime Minister in 2014 would be picked through “consensus among us” and later among coalition allies.
“Modiji is a popular leader. But we have to work out a consensus among us (the BJP) and then among NDA constituents,” BJP president Rajnath Singh said in Bhopal in response to a volley of questions on Modi.
Rajnath’s reference to “consensus among us” assumes significance because few BJP leaders can match Modi’s influence as matters stand now. If the BJP picks Modi through “consensus” within, it will be difficult for any ally to have any say as each party decides who its leader should be. Based on the final result, the leader of the largest partner of the winning coalition usually becomes Prime Minister.
The questions were triggered by a statement attributed to Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar that the BJP should stick to its policy of declaring its candidate in advance. Nitish, said to be nursing reservations on Modi because of the minority votes in Bihar, today denied making such a statement.
But 19 of the 42 questions that reporters asked Rajnath today were on Modi’s future role. Rajnath said the issue would come up for discussions after the BJP parliamentary board is constituted.
Asked about Nitish’s purported comment that the BJP would have to declare its candidate in advance, Rajnath said: “We respect all allies. What I wish to assure is that all NDA allies will be part of our alliance government even if the BJP gets a majority of its own.”
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