Modi "still" being coaxed to take over as BJP president

thats what a Delhi paper has been saying and said today.

BJP leaders want Modi as party chief

Kumar Uttam | New Delhi

A section of senior BJP leaders have stepped up efforts to convince Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to take over as the party president as Rajnath Singh's term comes to an end early next year. The move comes in the backdrop of reports that near consensus seems to have developed around Maharashtra BJP chief Nitin Gadkari as Rajnath's successor.

Sources revealed to The Pioneer that party's core group leaders have spoken to Modi in the last 48 hours to see if there could be a last minute 'change of heart' and he agrees to take up the assignment. Many leaders in the BJP have been of the opinion that Modi as the BJP president would be a big morale-booster for the party cadre, who are demoralised after a series of electoral debacle. The argument in the favour of Modi has been that he is the organisation's man having a mass appeal and finger on the pulse of people whereas Gadkari is believed to be a low-profile leader hardly known outside Maharashtra.

After elimination of several 'probables', BJP leaders had zeroed in on Narendra Modi and Nitin Gadkari for the top job, but Modi was hesitant in 'switching over' to national politics at this juncture. Assembly poll in Gujarat is due in December 2012 and Modi wants to stay back in the State till then to ensure that the party sails through the election.

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and Modi are also understood to have discussed party's and Modi's 'future plans' when the former visited Gujarat last month.

Eventually, it was decided in a meeting between Bhagwat and Advani that a consensus should be built around the name of Gadkari as Modi's concerns about Gujarat were 'genuine' and he needed some more time in the State before logging on to national politics.

But, senior leaders in New Delhi feel it would be in the larger interest of the party if he took over as the new president and continued to keep a watch on the State politics.

"Leaders are not opposing Gadkari as BJP president, but most of them believe Modi would be a better choice and his appointment would be in the party's interest," says a BJP leader privy to the developments in this matter.

Asked if Gadkari was going to be the next president, Bhagwat had said in Pune on Saturday, "His name is among those discussed by BJP leadership. But we have not recommended anyone. We have only advised BJP leaders that the new president should be able to restore the organisational structure."

Meanwhile, Rajnath Singh has asked observers to speed up the process of the organisational elections so that chiefs of State units are elected by mid-December paving the way for election of the national president by year end or early in January.