No Decision Yet On BJP Candidate For President, Says Amit Shah

New Delhi: The BJP is yet to take a decision on its candidate for the upcoming Presidential election, even as the party virtually rejected Shiv Sena's proposal for RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat to be the ruling combine's nominee. Replying to a question on the NDA's candidate for the Presidential polls in July, BJP President Amit Shah told news channel Aaj Tak in an interview that a decision is yet to be taken. "Even if I have a name on my mind, it has to be discussed within the party first," he said.

He also rejected the Shiv Sena's proposal regarding Mohan Bhagwat, saying that party has itself ruled it out.

To questions on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, Mr Shah said that there was no need for even an "iota of concern" over the situation in the state which has witnessed months of unrest. Mr Shah asserted that the situation in the state will improve soon.

"There is a big gap between the reality and the projection" of the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, Mr Shah said. Trouble is confined only to "three-and-a-half districts", he said.

The government has been keeping a sharp vigil over the situation and has witnessed many such spells of unrest in the past, all of which normalised after some time, he said.

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Mr Shah also slammed the Congress for criticising the government, saying that it had no right to do so as the problem in Jammu and Kashmir was an outcome of the policies of the Congress governments since independence.

To a question on whether Tamil superstar Rajinikant is likely to join the BJP, Mr Shah said that the decision has to be taken by the actor himself, and that his party welcomed all good people to its fold.

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Ahead of the Modi government completing three years in power, he said it has won the people's trust and added that the poor have the belief that the BJP is working for their welfare. In a democracy the "biggest certificate is the people's verdict" and the masses have repeatedly underscored their support for the BJP-led NDA government, he said.

The Modi government has been able to rid the country of the politics of casteism, family rule and appeasement, and turned the focus on performance, he said. While the UPA government was accused of scams running into Rs 12 lakh crore, even rivals of the NDA government have not levelled a single charge of corruption against it, Mr Shah claimed.