File photo of Narendra Modi.
The Bihar unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which lost its share in the state government over Narendra Modi's elevation within the party, has become the first state unit to ask its central leaders to formally announce the Gujarat Chief Minister as its prime ministerial candidate for 2014.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal United ended its 17-year-old alliance with the BJP in June over the prime ministerial candidature of Mr Modi, thereby booting out the coalition government in the state.
Today, at the end of the two-day state executive committee meeting of the BJP in Bodh Gaya, former Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi introduced the resolution demanding Mr Modi be named its PM nominee "without any loss of time", which was seconded by the Leader of Opposition in Bihar Assembly, Nand Kishore Yadav.
The move is being seen as the Modi camp's strategy to isolate veteran leader LK Advani's camp within the BJP which is trying its best to delay the announcement, party sources said.
Mr Modi's anointment as the BJP's prime ministerial candidate is already a foregone conclusion after the Gujarat strongman's elevation as head of the 2014 general elections committee, though the party has not officially endorsed his candidature yet.
Yesterday, Sushil Kumar Modi had reprimanded Narendra Modi over his meeting with arch rival Lalu Yadav's brother-in-law, Sadhu Yadav, triggering speculations of a changing political equation in Bihar in an election year.