Ahmedabad:
Days after he inducted
Narendra Modi into the BJP's parliamentary board - a group of its top 12 decision-makers - party chief
Rajnath Singh today declared the Gujarat Chief Minister as "the most popular leader of the country".
Mr Singh hailed Mr Modi's mass popularity on the BJP's 33rd foundation day at a grand function in Ahmedabad, where an estimated one lakh supporters were in attendance. The BJP president was the only central leader of the party to have been invited by Mr Modi.
BJP sources said Mr Singh and Mr Modi shared the stage at the Sardar Patel stadium as mandated by the RSS, its ideological mentor, indicating that the two may lead the BJP's efforts in the general elections next year.
(Read: Modi will be Congress's 'yamraj', says BJP)Mr Singh however told NDTV that his trip to Ahmedabad "was pre-planned".
Asked if the BJP was seeing a new and formidable Rajnath-Modi combination emerge for 2014, he said: "It's an outlook. I won't reject or endorse it. We have been together. We will be together. The entire party is united."
He emphasised that the party's prime ministerial candidate, which many BJP leaders think Mr Modi is worthy of becoming - will be chosen by the parliamentary board and not the president alone.
Though the BJP's foundation day is being celebrated in several party-ruled states, Mr Singh only attended the one in Ahmedabad after being present at a function in Delhi.
(Read: No need to be sorry for Ayodhya movement, says Advani) This is being seen as a strong signal of the special place that Mr Modi has in the party, despite it not committing yet on what role he will play in the 2014 elections.
The Gujarat Chief Minister's functions have for the longest time been about one man - Narendra Modi. But not anymore ever since his elevation to a national role in the BJP.
In September 2011, for his Sadbhavna Yatra, the hoardings had only projected Mr Modi. Today, the Sardar Patel stadium was dressed with huge photographs of the BJP's biggest leaders, including Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and LK Advani.