The Hindu : New Delhi News : Modi denies eyeing Prime Minister’s chair

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Modi denies eyeing Prime Minister’s chair

Manas Dasgupta

AHMEDABAD: In an expected development, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday denied that he was eyeing the Prime Minister’s chair after the next Parliamentary elections.

“I am not in the race for the Prime Minister’s post,” Mr. Modi said in a public function at Halol in the Panchamahals district.

He asserted that veteran leader L.K. Advani was the leader of the party and the BJP was certain to win the Parliamentary elections under his leadership.

The denial from Mr. Modi was expected particularly after the central leadership reportedly put the general secretary, Arun Jaitley, to get in touch with the Gujarat Chief Minister to clarify the situation. The speculation that Mr. Modi was virtually throwing a challenge to Mr. Advani, whom the party has already named its prime ministerial candidate, was set off by the comments of some captains of the industry at the just-concluded ‘Vibrant Gujarat global investors’ summit 2009.’

Top industrialists like Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group chairman Anil Ambani and Bharati group chairman Sunil Mittal were among those attending the summit to hail Mr. Modi as the “future Prime Minister.” Unlike in the previous three editions of the summit held in 2003, 2005 and 2007, Mr. Advani was not invited this time though it was held in his Lok Sabha constituency of Gandhinagar.

Embarrassment

With the veteran party leader and former Vice-President, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, having already thrown his hat into the ring, hailing Mr. Modi as bring “fit for prime ministership” apparently caused considerable embarrassment to Mr. Advani and the party leadership.

Not only did the Congress leaders criticise the captains of the industry for making such comments, a section of the BJP leadership too did not appreciate the idea of such a controversy being created at a business convention. “The Prime Minister’s post is not decided by the industrialists,” a senior BJP leader was quoted as saying.

Mr. Modi, however, said the Congress leaders had deliberately created the controversy to negate the achievements of the summit which was a “resounding success.”

He claimed that the comments were deliberately twisted to make it appear that he was challenging the leadership of Mr. Advani. “Mr. Advani is our leader and the BJP will certainly win the parliamentary elections under his leadership.”

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