Panaji: Who will be the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls? This is likely to be debated when leaders of the party meet in the Goan capital from Friday to Sunday.
While the office bearers will gather Friday, the national executive will meet Saturday and Sunday at the Marriott hotel here to discuss, among other things, a range of issues including the election strategy.
Senior party leaders said that the time had come to start projecting someone as the prime ministerial candidate.
“There is a feeling in the party that a decision on the prime ministerial candidate should be taken now,” said a BJP leader who did not want to be identified by name.
“A decision should be taken, whether a leader has to be projected, and who it would be,” added the general secretary.
It won’t be an easy task though.
There are known differences within the main opposition party on who could be projected as a future prime minister.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who has ruled the state since 2001, has not hidden his ambition — nor have his supporters within and outside the party.
Although he is a charismatic crowd puller, not everyone in the BJP — or the larger Sangh Parivar — is comfortable with him.
BJP leader and former deputy prime minister L.K. Advani recently rocked the Modi boat by comparing Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan with the iconic and former prime minister Atal Bihar Vajpayee.
BJP president Rajnath Singh immediately clarified that Advani’s comments had been “misinterpreted” — after the media reported that Advani had come out against Modi.
Others have floated the names of Advani, who was the prime ministerial contender in 2009, and Sushma Swaraj, the opposition leader in the Lok Sabha, as possible prime ministerial hopefuls.
The BJP, which ruled India from 1998 to 2004 and lost the 2009 Lok Sabha battle, has also to contend with the Janata Dal-United (JD-U).
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has made known his distaste for Modi but he has no problem, as yet, with the BJP per se.
Another BJP national executive member said the focus of the June 7-9 meet would be on the overall strategy for the next Lok Sabha election.
The BJP at present rules in four states — Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Goa — and is a junior partner in Bihar and Punjab. (IANS)