While Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday virtually declared Mr Rahul Gandhi as the Congress’ “ideal choice” for the Prime Minister’s post, Mr Narendra Modi has been failing to get support from the BJP and the Sangh Parivar as well for the top post.
The Congress is clear about who is its PM candidate but Mr Modi has adopted pressure tactics through the media, Baba Ramdev, pre-poll surveys and a section of the Sangh Parivar at a time when BJP chief ministers have been speaking in different voices on whether Mr Modi should be projected as the BJP’s PM candidate.
This is because the Gujarat chief minister is not seen as a charismatic leader like Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee nor seen as the man of organisation like Mr L.K. Advani who had revived the party virtually from zero after the debacle in the 1984 Lok Sabha elections. If Mr Gandhi is cautious and cool to accept the responsibility, Mr Modi is getting impatient day by day.
While the UPA constituents are not in a hurry to announce a PM candidate even after Dr Singh said that he was ready to work under Mr Gandhi in the Congress, thereby suggesting that he is not keen for a third term, the NDA remains split on the Modi issue. The JD(U) broke its ties with it while the Shiv Sena is uncomfortable working with Mr Modi.
Modi lobbyists within the BJP and outside view that he is the only mass-based, strong leader in the saffron party, ignoring that he has never been seen as a vote-catcher outside Gujarat.
If Mr Modi’s strong personality compelled a number of senior BJP leaders in Gujarat to quit the party, it is not attracting new allies like the Trinamul Congress, Biju Janata Dal, the Telugu Desam Party in West Bengal, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh, respectively. On the other hand, the AIADMK is keeping both the BJP and the Left in good humour.
Mr Modi’s emergence would bring the Trinamul Congress and the Left, JD(U) and the RJD, SP and the BSP together at the national level.