New Delhi: Gujarat Chief Minister is seen as future candidate for the Prime Minister’s post in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Good for the BJP but its allies in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) are not impressed.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday ruled out supporting Modi for the Prime Minister’s post. The Janata Dal-United leader said he would only “vote” for BJP leader L K Advani, the NDA’s prime ministerial candidate.
"We will only vote for Advani; we don't know anyone other than L K Advani," said Kumar in Patna, when reporters asked him for his comments on the debate in the BJP over projecting Modi as a future prime ministerial candidate.
The BJP is attempting to anoint Modi as Advani's successor but Kumar’s statement is reflective of the discomfort the Gujarat CM creates among NDA allies.
Two senior BJP leaders in April backed Modi for the PM’s post. Senior party leader Arun Shourie said Gujarat had the opportunity to elect two prime ministers: Advani now and Modi later.
''Gujarat can elect Advani as Prime Minister after the current Lok Sabha elections and Modi as the next PM,” Shourie said on April 24.
BJP national spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad suggested Modi could become the Deputy Prime Minister in a BJP government. The two BJP leaders though called their views personal.
Modi himself says he has no national ambition. “There are many people who are driven by ambition. I am driven by a sense of mission and not ambition,” he told CNN-IBN in an interview this week.
BJP also dismissed speculations of Nitish Kumar quitting the NDA.
"The fact of the matter is that in this election L K Advani is the prime ministerial candidate and Nitish Kumar is an important ally of the NDA... and we will do exceedingly well in Bihar," said BJP National Media Convener Nalin Kohli.
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