NEW DELHI: BJP president Nitin Gadkari on Monday ruled himself out of the Prime Ministerial candidates’ race “directly or indirectly” after news reports suggesting that he would be candidate from the BJP for the 2014 general polls.
Mr Gadkari said his endeavour would be to see that the party got 200 plus seats in the next elections.
Gadkari told a news channel in an interview from Nagpur that he would rule himself out of the race even if the RSS and the BJP asked for it.”It is an unnecessary perception (about his Prime Ministership) and ground reality is different… Nobody can dictate me… I am a common mediocre worker,” he added.
He said he was into politics inspired by ABVP right from his days as a student and he was committed to the party’s ideology. (UNI) and his task would be to ensure that the party crossed 200 mark in the next Lok Sabha polls.
Asked regarding veteran BJP leader L K Advani not clearly ruling himself out of the race, Mr Gadkari said he would not comment on Mr Advani’s statement but he was the chosen leader of the party in the 2009 polls.
About the next prime minister, he said the polls were far away and the BJP leadership would decide about its candidate.
As far as Mr Advani was concerned, he is a senior and tall leader who along with Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee inspired thousands and lakhs of party workers across the country, Mr Gadkari said. UNI