Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi virtually became BJP’s official face for 2014 polls after the election posters put him next to the party’s “tallest leader”, former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. These posters put up at the NDMC convention centre, the venue for Saturday’s meet to decide the media management strategy ahead of the crucial polls, had six faces, leading with Mr Vajpayee, Mr Modi, Ms Sushma Swaraj, Mr Arun Jaitley, party chief Rajnath Singh and Mr L.K. Advani. These posters would be distributed across the country.
Mr Advani, the strongest critic of Mr Modi in the party, was conspicuous by his absence from the meet. Meanwhile, the demand to declare Mr Modi as the BJP’s PM candidate intensified on Saturday with the party’s Bihar unit mounting pressure. A resolution asking the central leaders to officially declare Mr Modi as the PM candidate was unanimously passed at party’s state executive meeting in Bihar.
In Delhi, the BJP top brass, including Mr Modi, gave tips to the party’s spokespersons, media cell office-bearers and panellists in Delhi on how to counter the Congress-led opposition and media management.
They were told that while taking an aggressive stance against the Congress and the opposition, BJP speakers at public meetings and debates on television channels need to maintain decency and decorum.
On Sunday, the election campaign committee and co-committees are meeting to discuss poll strategies.