File photo of LK Advani, BJP president Rajnath Singh and Narendra Modi
The BJP is expected to announce this evening that
Narendra Modi will be its candidate for prime minister in 2014. Right now, senior leaders are dashing across Delhi holding discussions in an effort to ensure that a meeting called at 5 pm today to make that announcement, features no showdowns.
Late night meetings on Thursday have been followed up by many more on Friday, chiefly aimed at ending LK Advani's taut opposition to Mr Modi's nomination. Sources say Mr Modi may arrive in Delhi this evening.
Senior leaders like Nitin Gadkari and Balbir Punj emerged from an early morning huddle with BJP chief Rajnath Singh and went straight over to Mr Advani's 30, Prithviraj Road residence. He is reportedly still unmoved and has said he will vote against Mr Modi at the meeting of the party's parliamentary board, a group of 12 top leaders. He could be joined by Sushma Swaraj, who leads the party in the Lok Sabha, sources said.
(Track updates)Mr Gadkari and another BJP leader Ananth Kumar also met Ms Swaraj, who has said she will convey her views only on Friday evening. She has reportedly cancelled a visit to Ambala to attend the meeting.
But Murli Manohar Joshi, another dissenter, has reportedly told Rajnath Singh that he will back a majority decision.
Rajnath Singh, who is working overtime to ensure smooth sailing for Mr Modi, had reportedly invited Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan - a known Modi rival - to attend the parliamentary board meeting as a show of support, but he is believed to have refused.
Rajnath Singh wants all top leaders to endorse the Modi decision. But there are only hours left now and the vote on Mr Modi could well lay bare the fissures that the Gujarat Chief Minister has pounded in his party.
The 85-year-old Mr Advani has allegedly predicted a "political disaster" if the BJP outs Mr Modi, a man he once mentored, as its presumptive prime minister.
(Who said what on Modi-as-PM)
The BJP's ideological mentor, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS, however, believes that Mr Modi's surging popularity among party workers could extend to voters.