A day after the Bharatiya Janata Party declared Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as its prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 general election, party president Rajnath Singh on Saturday conceded that veteran BJP leader L.K. Advani was upset at the decision.
Addressing a press conference here, Mr. Singh said: “He is the senior most leader of the BJP. He is our guardian and mentor. He has a right to tell us a thing or two. He has the right to be upset with us.”
But, the BJP president said he did not know the reason behind Mr. Advani’s unhappiness. “ Yeh andar ki baat hai (It’s a party matter).” he said.
Mr. Singh made it clear that he would not reply to the letter the BJP patriarch sent him. Judging by the nation’s mood, he said, Mr. Modi was the most popular leader in the country today. “There were no second thoughts on his candidature [within the BJP].”
He challenged the Congress to announce its candidate. “We have declared our candidate. But who is the Congress’s choice? They cannot decide on any name yet. The country needs to know your choice.”
