Supporters of the Bharatiya Janata Party light fire crackers and display pictures of Narendra Modi while celebrating outside a BJP office in New Delhi yesterday.
Panaji: Riding over dissent and differences within, Gujarat Chief Minister and Hindutva icon Narendra Modi was yesterday named to lead the BJP into the 2014 Lok Sabha battle, marking the end of the era of the party’s ageing patriarchs.
The Bharatiya Janata Party announced here that the chief minister had been named chairman of the election management committee for the Lok Sabha polls, virtually ensuring that Modi, 62, will call the shots in the run-up to the general elections.
The announcement was made by BJP president Rajnath Singh at the end of a two-day national executive meeting that saw heavy wrangling between a section backed by party patriarch L K Advani, who opposed Modi’s ascent, and another group backing Modi’s candidature.
“The coming Lok Sabha polls are a big challenge. We are going in to win. Keeping the campaign in mind, I have appointed Narendra Modi as the head of the campaign committee,” Singh said outside the BJP conclave venue.
“The decision has been taken on the basis of consensus. We are sure the BJP will lead the next government,” Singh added, flanked by Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and Ananth Kumar.
Singh looked sombre while making the brief announcement — so were the other leaders accompanying him, a possible result of the collective strain felt by the party leadership due to the public wrangling.
Advani’s unease with Modi — he stayed away from the BJP meet citing stomach illness — led to an unprecedented heckling at his Delhi house by Modi fans demanding that the senior leader relent and make way for the Gujarat chief minister as the face of the 2014 polls. IANS
