New Delhi:
Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha yesterday said Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi should be the BJP's prime ministerial candidate, reviving the debate within the party and its allies on the PM candidate for 2014. (
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Today, speaking to NDTV's Barkha Dutt, Mr Sinha called Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar's aversion to Mr Modi unacceptable. Mr Sinha also says that he has the qualifications and background to be Prime Minister but Mr Modi's popularity is a game changer. Here are the highlights of his interview:
- The country is in election mode; the time is now for BJP to declare a PM candidate
- I don't want to see our alliance with Nitish break over Modi but taali do haath se bajti hai
- Nitish Kumar cannot call one candidate in BJP communal and the rest of party secular
- The way Nitish Kumar cancelled a dinner for BJP leaders in Patna did not go down well
- To my mind declaring a candidate for prime ministership will be a better option. However, not declaring a candidate is always an option.
- We should remove the confusion in people's mind.
- Was surprised by row over my suggesting Mr Modi's name
- I am not daring Nitish Kumar to walk out of the alliance. The alliance with Nitish Kumar, who used to be in the Samata Party, was forged by me
- My decision to stand against Gadkari was discussed with Mahesh Jethmalani, Shatrugan Sinha and Jaswant Singh
- I have joked before about being a PM candidate
- I also have qualifications like Manmohan Singh to be a PM candidate but no mass appeal like Modi
- I don't come from a Sangh Parivar background, so I know I am not an RSS favourite
- No other riot has attached themselves to an individual like 2002 has to Modi
- There is no doubt that Modi is the leader with the maximum appeal in BJP
- The BJP needs to introspect: there should be no rat race for party posts
- The open differences of BJP better than sycophancy in Congress
- Mr Modi has been able to build consensus within Gujarat
- Even the Muslim population within Gujarat now realises their best bet is with Narendra Modi
- The 2002 riots were very unfortunate. However, a section of people have been harping on this theme repeatedly as if it was the first time that riots took place in the country
- I have been in this party for almost 20 years. I have held important posts both in the government and BJP party. I have never felt this stranglehold people talk about RSS. I have never felt overwhelmed by any action of the RSS.
- I never belonged to the RSS. The question of my being an RSS favourite doesn't arise.
- It could not be RSS behind my saying Narendra Modi should be the prime minister, it is my personal opinion.
- I am not privy to Mr Modi's relationship with RSS
- There are problems that need deeper introspection. We need to introspect why we lost Himachal Pradesh assembly polls. We cannot go on celebrating our victory in Gujarat.
- When Rahul Gandhi cried in Jaipur, every senior Congress leader had tears because they knew they would have been in trouble.
- Dissent in BJP is a healthy trend.
- I feel we have been a very effective Opposition. The net result of all this is something that you see when election results come out.
- We will see the results once the elections come so we have to wait for those results.
- The BJP has a problem in appearing modern enough and the bigger problem is whether those fringe groups belong to Sangh or not. They are immediately associated with the Sangh and the BJP... So fringe groups take extreme positions and create a problem.
- Hope there is no Manmohan Singh in 2014. There are problems in India and that is only because of the two power centres in the Congress. The PM does not have real power.