The Congress is in no hurry to take on Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi but watching the silence of L.K. Advani, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and the top brass of the RSS on the demand that Mr Modi be projected as the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate.
“Let the BJP decide and evolve consensus on his name in the NDA,” a Congress official said.
Mr Modi’s projection will lead to sharp polarisation. Even the Shiv Sena’s early reaction does not favour Mr Modi while the anti-Congress parties like the BJD, TDP even the AGP may not like to associate with Mr Modi who did not field even a single Muslim candidate in the Gujarat Assembly polls held a couple of months ago.
The Congress does not want to give Mr Modi the larger political space by making him the target of its attack irrespective of whether he takes a dip at “sangam” at Allahabad during the Maha Kumbh Mela or the VHP, Dharm Sansad backs him for the top post.
The Gujarat chief minister has not emerged as a vote catcher yet. Even the BJP chief ministers in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka have not been depending on Mr Modi’s charisma to win elections. Besides, there is a big question mark about his ability to get votes in West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
The BJP had checked the Congress during 1998 to 2004 only after putting its core agenda — the Ram Janmabhoomi, common civil code and abrogation of Article 370 — under the carpet.
But a section of the Congress views Mr Modi could attract the middle-class and youth through his aggressive style of campaigning. This is because they are against the reservation as a policy and dislike vote-bank appeasement.