Despite the BJP’s central leadership disapproving of its Bihar state unit’s formal call for Narendra Modi’s projection as prime ministerial candidate, the state unit leaders on Tuesday stood by their decision, saying they only bowed to the overwhelming desire of Bihar’s BJP workers.
As senior BJP leader Nand Kishore Yadav, who had played a key role along with former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi in getting the Modi-for-PM resolution passed, strongly defended the decision, the developments signalled a rapid fading away of the robust influence BJP veteran L.K. Advani had on the party’s Bihar unit for long. At its state executive in Bodh Gaya on Saturday, the BJP’s state unit had adopted a resolution unanimously urging the party’s central leadership to name Modi as its PM candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
“Our resolution adopted at Bodh Gaya was in accordance with the sentiments of the party workers across Bihar and the strong demand from the delegates at the summit,” said Mr Yadav, who had seconded the resolution moved by Sushil Kumar Modi, to reporters. “We did only what the party’s workers and leaders across Bihar wanted us to do,” added Yadav, a former senior cabinet minister who served as the convenor of the NDA in Bihar. Mr Yadav attached little importance to the displeasure aired by the BJP central leaders on the Bihar unit foraying into the party’s choppy waters of naming its PM candidate, a task the BJP parliamentary board keeps delaying despite many contrarian signals.