Key BJP meet in Goa today, but decision on Modi unlikely

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s three day national executive meeting begins on Friday where the party is likely to make a big announcement on who will head the election campaign committee for the Lok Sabha polls. While the clamour for Narendra Modi has only been growing louder, especially after veteran party leader LK Advani reluctantly decided to back the Gujarat Chief Minister, there still exists a faction within the party that is opposed to Modi being named in haste. [caption id=“attachment_850413” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The support for Modi is growing: Reuters[/caption] According to CNN-IBN, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj has expressed her apprehension of naming the three time chief minister so early. Sources have told the channel that she apparently wants to wait and watch till the end of the upcoming assembly polls in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Advani, the party’s senior most leader, had tried to quash efforts to announce Modi as the ’tallest leader’ of the party. According to NDTV, the BJP reportedly decided to reject Advani’s two-committee proposal. The 85-year-old leader wanted two election committees - one for the Lok Sabha polls, headed by Modi, and one for the upcoming Assembly polls, headed by former party president Nitin Gadkari. However Gadkari reportedly refused. Sections in the party now reportedly want a separate Chintan Baithak to decide on Modi’s road ahead. The central office-bearers of the party will also meet on Friday afternoon to discuss the agenda of the executive meeting. Modi’s supporters want him to be declared the party’s presumptive prime ministerial candidate as early as possible. Goa’s Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, where the executive meeting is happening, said: “Modi is undoubtedly the most popular leader of the BJP. He should be made the face of the party in 2014, when and how will that be declared, it’s for the party to decide.” BJP leader Balbir Punj also expressed his support. “There is no doubt that Modi is the most popular leader,” he said. However, Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha said no decision on Modi will be taken at the meeting as it was too big a body to decide, and all such decisions rest with the party’s parliamentary board. “The national executive will discuss national and political issues that concern the nation and wouldn’t concern itself with picking the person to lead the party in the next general elections,” he said, adding, “We should in good time decide who will lead us in the elections.” While hard-core Modi fans within the party’s executive may demand that Modi be named the party chief, it is to be seen if BJP’s top leaders give in and annoint the Gujarat CM as its campaign leader, a post reportedly cleared by the RSS. However sources have told CNN-IBN that the RSS has already given the green light for Modi’s appointment.