Thakur hopeful on Modi's anointment as the BJP's PM candidate

PATNA: Senior BJP leader C P Thakur today expressed hope that the Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi will be elevated as the BJP's prime ministerial candidate soon and exuded confidence that the senior leaders like L K Advani, Sushma Swaraj and M M Joshi will be persuaded to fall in line on the issue.

"Modi will be declared as the BJP's prime ministerial candidate soon after the ongoing consultation among senior leaders.....Advani, Sushma and Joshi will be persuaded to fall in line on the issue," Thakur told reporters.

The BJP national president Rajnath Singh and other senior leaders have been speaking to Advani and others to try to convince them to remove their reservation on announcement of Modi's name as the party's prime ministerial candidate and the result will bear fruits soon, he said.

Thakur, who is a senior vice-president of the BJP, sought to disagree with those leaders expressing reservations that Modi's prime ministerial candidature announcement will have a detrimental effect in the ensuing assembly polls in five states and said that in fact it will improve the party's electoral performance as the Gujarat Chief Minister's appeal has been growing among all sections of the society.

Modi carries a national aura and appeals to all segments of people which will benefit the BJP electorally in not only the assembly polls in the five states to be held later this year, but strategically and politically too in the run up to the general elections next year, the senior BJP leader said.