Washington:
Rajnath Singh, the chief of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has told NDTV there is consensus within his party about its prime ministerial candidate. However, Mr Singh, who is in the US, stopped short of stating that the choice is Narendra Modi.
"I don't know why there is so much talk around it. The party has a consensus and I know where there is a consensus," Mr Singh said in the US.
Mr Modi, 62, was picked in June as the campaign-in-charge of the BJP, seen as just one step short of the prime ministerial nomination.
Sources close to the BJP president say that naming Mr Modi as the prime ministerial candidate at this point will give the Congress too lengthy a period to target him on perceived or genuine weaknesses. They say a later declaration could help infuse the campaign with momentum just before voting.
The Gujarat Chief Minister's detractors accuse him of being a divisive figure who did not do enough to stop the communal riots in his state in 2002 in which hundreds of Muslims were killed.
Mr Modi's opponents within the party- a muscular group with members, some of who reportedly host prime ministerial ambitions of their own - feel that if Mr Modi is declared presumptive prime minister, the BJP will fail to enlist regional parties who rely on Muslim support into a coalition strong enough to challenge the incumbent Congress-led government.
The BJP president and Mr Modi have been emphasizing a right-wing agenda recently - the construction of a Ram Mandir or temple at Ayodhya where the 16th century Babri Masjid was destroyed 20 years ago is a priority, they have said.
In a recent interview, Mr Modi controversially declared: "I am nationalist. I'm patriotic. I am born Hindu. So I'm a Hindu nationalist."
The string of controversial statements Mr Modi has made recently have seemed strategically designed to polarise the pro-Hindutva vote in the face of his rivals attempting to consolidate the minority vote against him with a communal vs secular debate.
"I don't know why there is so much talk around it. The party has a consensus and I know where there is a consensus," Mr Singh said in the US.
Mr Modi, 62, was picked in June as the campaign-in-charge of the BJP, seen as just one step short of the prime ministerial nomination.
Sources close to the BJP president say that naming Mr Modi as the prime ministerial candidate at this point will give the Congress too lengthy a period to target him on perceived or genuine weaknesses. They say a later declaration could help infuse the campaign with momentum just before voting.
The Gujarat Chief Minister's detractors accuse him of being a divisive figure who did not do enough to stop the communal riots in his state in 2002 in which hundreds of Muslims were killed.
Mr Modi's opponents within the party- a muscular group with members, some of who reportedly host prime ministerial ambitions of their own - feel that if Mr Modi is declared presumptive prime minister, the BJP will fail to enlist regional parties who rely on Muslim support into a coalition strong enough to challenge the incumbent Congress-led government.
The BJP president and Mr Modi have been emphasizing a right-wing agenda recently - the construction of a Ram Mandir or temple at Ayodhya where the 16th century Babri Masjid was destroyed 20 years ago is a priority, they have said.
In a recent interview, Mr Modi controversially declared: "I am nationalist. I'm patriotic. I am born Hindu. So I'm a Hindu nationalist."
The string of controversial statements Mr Modi has made recently have seemed strategically designed to polarise the pro-Hindutva vote in the face of his rivals attempting to consolidate the minority vote against him with a communal vs secular debate.
Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world
