Modi tours to build pressure on BJP
Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi’s tour of different states is being seen in political circles as an attempt to mount pressure on the BJP high command to officially project him as the party’s prime ministerial candidate.
The current mood in the Congress is to ignore Mr Modi’s “self-projection campaign” as a strategy. This is because he could get political mileage from “overreaction,” it feels.
While the BJP top brass is silently watching Mr Modi’s pressure tactics, its allies in the NDA are not enthused over his campaign because they are not sure whether he is a vote-catcher like Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee. The JD(U) has already made it clear that he is unacceptable to it. However, it will not quit the NDA so early.
On the other hand, the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Shiv Sena have yet to reveal their cards on Mr Modi. “Although a section of opinion-makers (media) is playing a role of lobbyists and competing with each other to project him as the PM candidate, the RSS too has yet to indicate whether or not Mr Modi should be projected for the post,” a senior MP said.
A BJP strategist observed that Mr Vajpayee, Dr Manmohan Singh or even late P.V. Narsimha Rao became the successful Prime Minister because they were tolerant. But Mr Modi has been known for his “intolerance” within the party. Former chief ministers Keshubhai Patel, Suresh Mehta, late Union minister Kanshiram Rana, Haren Pandya had to quit the party because of his style of functioning, insiders pointed out.
Chief ministers Mamata Banerjee, Jayalalithaa and even Naveen Patnaik would find it difficult to fight the next Lok Sabha elections with the Mr Modi for the simple reason that his hardline image could affect their political constituency.
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