Vasundhara Raje indicates preference for Modi as PM candidate

NEW DELHI: Senior BJP leader Vasundhara Raje today appeared to favour Narendra Modi as the party's Prime Ministerial candidate claiming that he was popular not just in Gujarat but across the country.

"There's something that Narendra Modi is doing right, that people are appreciating. Narendra Modi knows the pulse of his people, therefore there is great synergy at play," said Raje while speaking at the 'India Today Woman Summit' organised by the TV Today Group.

Asked why Modi was preferred by the party and not a woman including herself for the top job, she said Modi had 15 years of Chief Ministership behind him while she had only five.

Raje said that during her yatra in Rajasthan people start celebrating whenever Modi's name crops up in the course of her speech. He is doing something right that people appreciated him all over, she added.

The former Rajasthan Chief Minister said she would be inviting Modi to campaign for her in the state, saying he was very popular among the masses. "Why not"? she said when asked if she would ask the Gujarat Chief Minister to campaign for her in Rajasthan.

Taking a dig at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, she said "do you think a man is really running this country"?

Her remarks came when asked if a woman will become the country's Prime Minister again.