A section in the BJP warning of the pitfalls of projecting Gujarat CM Narendra Modi as the NDA’s candidate for PM in the 2014 general elections feels this will impact them in UP too, which has 19 per cent of the minority vote and where Assembly elections are due next year.
This section argues that with nearly 19 per cent of the minority vote bank in the state, not merely for the Assembly polls, but also for the general elections, this particular section of voters could polarise “in favour of the Congress”. A shift of a lion’s share — 19 per cent vote of the minority vote bank — would have a major impact on 403 Assembly berths and 80 Lok Sabha seats in UP, a section in the BJP felt.
However, the BJP, which lacks a credible face to attract votes, is giving all possible indications to prop up Mr Modi as the party’s emerging face. Senior BJP leaders L.K. Advani, Arun Jaitley, Ananth Kumar, Shahnawaz Hussain, Ravi Shankar Prasad and NDA ally and Punjab chief minister Prakash Singh Badal are leaving for Gujarat to attend Mr Modi’s three-day fast for peace and harmony in the state. The fast starts September 17. Mr Modi is undertaking the fast after the SC verdict asking the SIT to file a final report, or a chargesheet to be heard in a lower court in Gujarat, in the Gulberg Society riots case.