M A I N   N E W S

Modi prevails, gets top BJP poll post
* To lead campaign in 2014
* Detractors fall in line
* RSS gives its go-ahead
Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service

Panaji, June 9
Bowing to “popular” sentiments emerging from the grassroots level and overruling the dissidents led by party patriarch LK Advani, the BJP today declared Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as chairman of the election committee and ended the raging speculation on the issue.

As head of the committee, which will lead the BJP into the 2014 General Elections, the controversial Gujarat CM has now shifted to the penultimate step before his ultimate goal - the party’s prime ministerial candidature.

The elevation puts Modi on an equal footing with Congress vice-president and heir apparent Rahul Gandhi, who is also heading his party’s election coordination committee. The announcement, shared by party president Rajnath Singh with delegates at the party’s one of the most turbulent national executives, saw a thunderous applause that lasted for 10 minutes, leaders said.

But the fault lines within the top leadership were more than apparent when accompanied by a visibly relieved Arun Jaitley and a noticeably grim Sushma Swaraj (an Advani loyalist and another PM candidature hopeful), Singh stepped outside the venue to share the “unanimous” decision with the media.

“Every political party treats elections as a big challenge. Keeping the campaign in mind, I have appointed Gujarat CM Narendra Modi as the campaign committee chairman,” Singh said.

Sushma later drove away silently, without exchanging words with the waiting reporters. She was also missing at the workers’ meeting, which saw the victorious troika of Modi, Singh and Jaitley sharing the dais with Goa CM Manohar Parikkar.

As the party moves on from the LK Advani-Atal Behari Vaypayee period to the Rajnath Singh-Narendra Modi era, it is apparent that the pro-Advani leaders like Ananth Kumar, Uma Bharti and Yashwant Sinha will have to fall in line or perish. As head of the new committee, Modi will not only be planning the party’s election strategy but also the candidates.

While the change-over from the old to the new guard was not an easy task for the party president, he later told a public rally, Modi’s appointment was a righteous and a just choice. “The decision has been taken for the country and not the party,” a message perhaps to Modi-detractors, within and outside the party.

The elevation is meant to convey that the party respects the wishes of its cadres who have been rooting for Modi to be recognised and rewarded for his irrefutable strength as a vote-getter.

The ideological mentor RSS is understood to have played a major role in this appointment by instructing the BJP to end all dithering and send the right message to the public despite Advani's absence.

With the second-most crucial hurdle over (the first one was getting to the Parliamentary board despite the push for Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Chauhan by Advani and Sushma), it is obvious that clamour for the announcement of his name for the top job will now start soon.

Emerging first among the equals, Modi is the only BJP CM in party’s Parliamentary Board, the Central Election Committee and the Election Campaign Committee.

He will now be part of all the decision making processes of the party before the five-state Assembly elections and the big finale of the General Elections. Former party president Nitin Gadkari has not been given any parallel appointment, meaning that the pressure is now on Modi to deliver.

Expectedly, the move also means a growth in the stature of pro-Modi camp which includes Arun Jaitley, Amit Shah, Smriti Irani, Ramlal and Balbir Punj.

Rajnath’s group, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Varun Gandhi, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Sudhanshu Trivedi and Prakash Javadekar will also gain in strength in the gen-next shift-over

Modi later tweeted: “Spoke to Advaniji on the phone. He gave me his blessings. Honoured and extremely grateful to receive his blessings”. He is expected to Delhi to meet with Advani to seek his blessings.

What the elevation means

• As head of the committee, Modi will lead the BJP into the 2014 General Election
• The elevation puts Modi on an equal footing with Congress vice-president and heir apparent Rahul Gandhi, who is also heading his party’s election coordination committee
• Now Modi will not just be planning the party’s election strategy but also have a key role in the selection of candidates
• Former party president Nitin Gadkari has not been given any parallel appointment, meaning that the pressure is now on Modi to deliver