For BJP president Rajnath Singh, the soil of the far off New York City was needed to gather courage to say what he was ordered to say by the Nagpur bosses all these while– Narendra Modi is the PM candidate for the party. But obedient as he is he went to the extent of saying that Modi is not just the best in his party but the best amongst all political others for the top job in the country.Away in Big Apple, Rajnath on Sunday virtually anointed Modi as the man for the top job if the party came to power after the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, saying the Gujarat chief minister is “the one single leader with a national appeal.”
"It's not necessary that the party president should also be a crowd puller and a prime ministerial candidate. I have an assignment to do for my party. I have a job to deliver– that is victory of the party in the 2014 elections.""Seven months before the elections, I have nominated Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi as the chairman of the party's election campaign committee. What is unusual in that? We have nominated Modi like other parties do and why read between lines. I have named him as campaign head in view of his image, popularity and commitment to the party," he told a press conference in New York at the start of his five-day trip to New York and Washington.
Giving all indications that it could be Modi who is the prime ministerial candidate, Singh said the chief minister is the certainly the most popular and tallest leader in the country now."He is a crowd puller not only in Gujarat but also in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar – from North to South, East to West. He is one single leader with a national appeal. His popularity will help the party in the elections," he said.On the question of party president not being projected as Prime Ministerial candidate in the Lok Sabha elections, he said it is necessarily not the one and the same.
"I am more interested in getting the BJP back into power in Center and packing off the corruption-ridden bad governance of the Congress in my tenure as President of the party," he said.On the question of poll promises, he said BJP will go in for developmental debate than Ram temple. "Ram temple is not a major poll issue anytime. It is at best a national issue but not an election issue," he added. Rajnath is accompanied by party MP Ananth Kumar, and leaders Vijay Jolly and Sudanshu Trivedi, Singh will present a key note address on India, Afghanistan and regional security at a conference in Washington on Tuesday.
He also claimed that the BJP would get more allies nearer elections and after the polls too. The Ram temple is at best a national issue and not a poll plank, he said.He also claimed that the party will get more allies nearer elections and after the polls too. The developmental issues rather than the Ram temple will dominate BJP's poll campaign.
