Bhopal:
He is quite the pivot of the BJP's electioneering already, but
Narendra Modi did not find space on the many posters that dotted the landscape as Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan launched a 50-day
yatra on Monday.
The posters showcased, apart from the Chief Minister, BJP president Rajnath Singh, former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and senior leader LK Advani. Even Sushma Swaraj, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, was featured, but not Mr Modi. The Gujarat Chief Minister has been appointed to lead the BJP's election campaign for the general elections scheduled next year and for assembly elections in four states later this year.
One of those four states is Madhya Pradesh, where Mr Chouhan will attempt to win a record third straight term as Chief Minister.
Mr Modi's many heavyweight opponents in the BJP have often attempted to project Mr Chouhan to counter Mr Modi's claim to being the most efficient and successful administrator among the party's chief ministers. Among them is Mr Advani who has often drawn a comparison between the two, praising Mr Chouhan's achievements in developing his state as more significant than the growth story that Mr Modi has scripted in Gujarat.
Mr Chouhan has not sought to play down the internal rivalry. As he preps for assembly elections, Mr Chouhan, for long an understated politician, has in recent times even taken to tweeting prolifically about his government's successes much like Mr Modi does.
One those tweets became controversial last month - the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister said helicopters from his state were used to evacuate people stranded in flood-hit Uttarakhand regardless of which state they belonged to. It seemed like a straight jibe at Mr Modi who faced much flak after media reports that he had helped evacuate 15,000 people from Gujarat. The BJP later stressed that those reports were unsubstantiated.
BJP leaders explained yesterday that Mr Modi was missing from posters at the launch of Mr Chouhan's
yatra because it was only a local event. Ms Swaraj figured on the posters, they said, because she was to have flagged off the
yatra but could not reach Bhopal as her aircraft had to land in Jaipur because of a technical snag.
They said Mr Modi was expected to be among many central leaders who would be present when Mr Chouhan's bus turned rath or chariot rolled into Bhopal to end the yatra in September.