Central Parliamentary Board would decide PM candidate: Rajnath Singh, BJP president

BHOPAL: Continuing to dodge the issue of Prime Ministerial candidate, BJP president Rajnath Singh today maintained that the decision in this regard would be taken by the party's Central Parliamentary Board (CPB).

He conceded that at this stage, it was hard to zero-in on a candidate acceptable to entire NDA.

Answering a volley of questions as to why the BJP was shying away from naming Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as its Prime Ministerial candidate, the BJP President said, "There is a tradition in the party to decide such issues in the CPB."

Pointing out that before the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, it was the CPB which had chosen L K Advani as BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate, Rajnath said, "Why do you want us to change this practise now?"

He described Modi as a "very capable and popular leader", but added there was no dearth of such good leaders in the BJP.

At this stage, he said, it was "difficult to name any leader" acceptable both to the BJP and the entire NDA.

Saying that he would like the BJP to come to power after 2014 General elections on its own, Rajnath added: "However, even if that happens, BJP will not forget the allies with whom it will fight the elections."

When asked if there was any leader who could be acceptable to both his party and the allies like Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the BJP President said "no two people in the world could be alike".