Narendra Modi's elevation draws mixed response from leaders

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Modi best possible card for BJP: JaitleyPanaji: BJP leader Arun Jaitley today said Narendra Modi is the "best possible card" for the party in the Lok Sabha elections and dismissed media speculation that L K Advani was opposed to his elevation. "It is not only an overwhelming consensus among the leaders but there is a near unanimous view among the cadres that you have to give a special responsibility to a person who is perceived as highly popular and inspirational leader as far as cadres are concerned.
"A party has to play its best possible card in the elections and that is what the party president has done," he said reacting to Modi's appointment as Chairman of the BJP Campaign Committee for the Lok Sabha polls.
Asked whether there were no divisions in the party on the issue and whether Advani had suggested setting up of another Committee, Jaitley said "I am not aware of any such view (of Advani). The entire generation of leaders at present active in the party, not one of them has done a fraction of services that Advani had lent to the party."
He said Advani's views are always heard in rapt attention regardless of what he says by leaders of the party. "He has no such position as has been widely perceived by the media," Jaitley said.
Dismissing speculation that Advani had kept away from meeting because of his opposition to Modi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha said that the party veteran stayed away because he was not in the best of health in the last few days and the media should accept it graciously.
Asked whether Modi has been announced the Prime Ministerial candidate, he said that any further will be taken at the right time. Jaitley said with today's decision it will be now a fight between Congress and BJP in which Congress is poorly placed.
"We have intensified the campaign against the Congress party," he said.
Opinion by ParrikarPanaji: Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who had once courted controversy by indicating that politicians should retire at the age of 65, today said there was nothing called as era in BJP and it was time for younger generation to take over the party's reins.
"There is nothing called era in the BJP but I feel it is the time for younger generation to take over the reins of the party," Parrikar told PTI minutes after Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's name was announced to head the party's poll campaign.
"This is an important day for India. When we say Congress is indecisive and does not act, we should set up a precedent by deciding in time. The best precedent we set was deciding in time about electing Modi," Parrikar reacted.
"Indecisiveness by Congress was clearly destroying the country. Today's decision by BJP is a clear signal that India is ready for a change," the chief minister said. In a recent interview, parrikar had indirectly taken a dig at senior leader L K Advani when he said that at the age of 65 a politician should retire.
To a question, he said, "We can say Goa is lucky for BJP." He said the party now will have to set the time table for the campaign as Assembly elections for five states are scheduled in November.
"If we have to win the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, we will have to win the election in five states," the chief minister, who rode the party to victory in 2012 Goa Assembly polls, said."If not win, at least we will have to improve our position in the states which are going to polls," he added.
Chouhan congratulates ModiPanaji: Often pitted to counter Narendra Modi, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan today said the decision to hand over the reins of the BJP poll campaign to the Gujarat Chief Minister would benefit not only the party but the entire country.
"I am confident that not only the party but the entire country would benefit by the decision taken by the BJP President under the guidance of L K Advani and in consultation with senior party leaders," Chouhan told reporters here.
Only last week Advani, who is strongly opposed to the elevation of Modi in the party hierarchy, had heaped praise on Chouhan and compared him with former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
"I congratulate him (Modi). We all will work tirelessly to ensure that BJP forms the government at the Centre in 2014," Chouhan said reacting to Modi's appointment as Chairman of BJP's Campaign Committee for 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
He said Advani's blessings would always be with Modi and other leaders of the party. "Vajpayeeji and Advaniji are personalities who have taken the BJP to great heights. We have grown up under the guidance and affection and their blessings are always with us," Chouhan said.
Decision on Modi would be catalytic in NDA's victory march: SADChandigarh: NDA ally Shiromani Akali Daltoday welcomed BJP's decision to appoint Narendra Modi as Chairman of its Election Campaign Committee for the 2014 polls, saying the decision would be "catalytic" in the alliance's victory march.
"The people of the country are looking towards National Democratic Alliance to save the country from the clutches of most corrupt UPA government. As Narendra Modi has been made Chairman of Poll Campaign Committee of BJP, the biggest alliance partner of NDA, it (the decision) would be catalytic in NDA's victory march in 2014 elections," SAD leader Sukhbir Badal said in a statement here.
This is the "beginning of decimation of corrupt, inefficient and insensitive UPA-II government from the Centre," he said. The Punjab Deputy Chief Minister said that Modi has shown his capability and calibre in successful poll campaigns of Gujarat. "We should utilise his services to effectively chalk out NDA's campaign, and projecting the failures of UPA-II," he added.
He also said the SAD has remained an inseparable part of NDA and would continue to support BJP in all its moves and decisions to oust Congress from power. At its national executive meet held in Goa, the BJP today appointed Narendra Modi as Chairman of its Election Campaign Committee for the 2014 polls, a move considered just short of making him the prime ministerial candidate.
Modi's appointment internal matter of BJP: JD-UNew Delhi: JD-U, which has reservations on Narendra Modi, today described as "internal matter" of BJP his appointment as its campaign committee chief but insisted that NDA's Prime Ministerial candidate will be decided by all constituents of the alliance.
"What BJP decides is that party's internal matter. Whom they make the party president or chairman of a particular committee in their party is what concerns them. "He (Modi) has not become NDA's campaign committee chairman," JD-U President Sharad Yadav told PTI on phone from Chennai.
Yadav, who is also NDA convener, at the same time, said that NDA functioned for 17 years according to its national agenda and "whoever becomes the PM candidate has to accept that national agenda".
He said that NDA's PM candidate will be decided in NDA after BJP declares its candidate. "BJP will decide its PM candidate and then it will be brought up before NDA. NDA's PM candidate will be decided by NDA, with BJP and all its constituents," Yadav said, indicating that his party's reservations on Modi as BJP’s PM candidate continue.
Ending the suspense over Modi's name, BJP today appointed him as its election campaign committee chief for 2014 Lok Sabha elections, which is being interpreted by analysts as the Gujarat Chief Minister's another step forward towards becoming BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate.
BJP President Rajnath Singh, who has been hailing Modi as the "most popular" leader in the country, has so far maintained that the decision on BJP's PM candidate will be taken by the party's Parliamentary Board.
JD-U's and, in particular, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's antipathy towards Modi is well-known. After the recent defeat of JD-U candidate in Maharajganj Lok Sabha by poll, there were allegations that BJP did not work for the JD-U candidate, a contention dismissed by Kumar.
JD-U leaders were, however, quick to dismiss BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy's contention in the aftermath of the by poll result that Modi is required for both BJP and JD-U.
"We do not need Modi" was the refrain of JD-U General Secretary Shivanand Tiwari on Rudy's remarks.