Several top industrial houses are learnt to be favouring Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi in the Assembly polls. Mr Modi, who is fast emerging as a strong prime ministerial contender in the BJP, has long been a favourite of the corporate sector.
A Congress think tank member who works closely with Rahul Gandhi on Monday named some business groups aiding Mr Modi.
“They are not against the Congress... they also help us, but they like Narendra Modi more”, a Congress insider said.
While some top BJP leaders, including Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, L.K. Advani and Gopinath Munde, have seen PM material in Mr Modi, a few Congress leaders too, including some ministers, praised him during visits to Gujarat. They stopped lauding his administrative skills only after Gujarat Congress leaders objected, saying it was demoralising party workers.
Some of the Congress’ UPA allies are also not critical of Mr Modi, who has good equations with AIADMK chief J. Jayalalithaa as well. This is likely to be Mr Modi’s last election as chief minister, and it is believed he will soon return to national politics.
Gujarat Congress leaders are, meanwhile, unhappy over the choice of candidates and blame central leaders for their wrong strategy.