Bharatiya Janata Party may be set to give a prominent national role to Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party may be set to give a prominent national role to Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, who has cemented his position as his party’s tallest leader after his third successive triumph in the state polls and a favourite with the country’s top business leaders.

The party may make Modi in-charge of a campaign committee, much like Congress made the Nehru-Gandhi scion Rahul Gandhi the chief of such a body without officially declaring him the prime ministerial candidate, a BJP leader told ET.

“This is a strategic way to elevate Modi and enthuse the cadres ahead of the next contest at the Centre without disturbing the equations within the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance,” said the leader, who did not wish to be named. “Both BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh are of the view that Modi can no longer be confined to Gujarat. The clamour within BJP for giving Modi a role in the party’s central leadership was evident when chants of “PM, PM” and placards reading “the country needs you” greeted him as he visited the party headquarters in Delhi for the first time after being sworn in as Gujarat CM for the fourth time last month.

Modi himself has, however, remained silent on any such move in the party, even as the country’s top business leaders lavished praise on him at the recent Vibrant Gujarat Summit. He also invited delegates to the next edition of the biennial event in 2015, a year after the general elections. “When I gave a similar invitation in 2011, the media had mocked me saying I was yet to be re-elected and was already issuing invitations. This time, there is no such problem,” he said.

The leader quoted earlier said any move to elevate Modi will come only after the party president’s election, which may stretch over the next few weeks. Once the process of electing the new party president is completed, BJP will reconstitute its central teams, including the parliamentary board, core group and other office bearers. Modi’s new role is likely to be defined only after this exercise. He is likely to return as a member of the Parliamentary board, where there is a vacancy following the death of Bal Apte.

In paving the way for Modi to get a role beyond Gujarat in the party, BJP may tread cautiously as it not only wants to keep NDA intact but also woo other allies. Modi’s swearing-in was skipped by BJP’s Bihar-based ally JD(U), which has expressed its reservations over any move to project him as the NDA’s prime ministerial nominee. BJP is hoping that Modi will prove an effective campaigner beyond Gujarat as well.

In his home state, he led his party to winning 115 of the 182 seats against 61 for Congress, in an election which appeared to render caste equations irrelevant. BJP faces elections over the coming months in crucial states, including Karnataka, Rajasthan, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgar.