June 15, 2013, 7:19 pm

BY S VENKAT NARAYAN    


Our Special Correspondent


NEW DELHI, June 15: The appointment of Gujarat state’s controversial but charismatic Chief Minister Narendra Modi as Chairman of India’s main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) National Election Campaign for the crucial 2014 general election  has the potential to lead to the party’s victory in the parliamentary election due in April/May 2014.




Modi’s anointment as the head of the BJP election campaign panel can possibly mark the beginning of the end of the rule of the Congress Party and Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s UPA Government, which completes 10 years in office on 22 May 2014.


Shortly after appointing Modi, BJP President Rajnath Singh said: "I want a BJP victory in the next general election. In my view, Narendra Modi is the only man who can do this for us. This is why I have appointed him as the campaign committee chairman to plan the necessary strategy that will deliver a victory for us."


Senior BJP leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha (Indian Parliament’s Upper House) Arun Jaitely declared: "Modi is the BJP’s trump card. If anybody can win the upcoming election for us, it is him. This is the bravest decision our party chief has taken despite some stiff opposition from senior leaders."


A day before Modi’s appointment, BJP member from Hyderabad Laxmana Rao told the Sunday Island in Goa: "The party’s rank and file believe that Narendra Modi is the only leader in our party who has the ability and charisma to bring the BJP to power at the centre after languishing in the opposition for ten long years. Most of us believe that we should give him a chance to lead the election campaign. He can either take us up to Mount Everest or down to the bottom of the Indian Ocean! Be it up or down, we are prepared to be led by him!"


There was visible excitement and enthusiasm amongst over 400 leaders and large numbers of party cadres who flocked to Goa for the BJP’s annual national executive council meeting. They all were keen that the BJP project a strong, decisive and popular leader either as the party’s prime ministerial candidate straightaway or appoint him as a decision-maker in the run-up to the general election.


There were rumblings amongst the party’s senior leaders about making Modi the campaign chief. Party veteran and former Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani, 86, was vehemently opposed to 63-year-old Modi’s projection.


Advani has been aspiring for the prime ministership ever since the BJP formed its first coalition government at the centre in 1996 with Atal Behari Vajpayee as prime minister, but missed the bus twice. He tried his luck in the 2004 and 2009 elections, but the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) lost to the Congress Party-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in both the general elections.


He was keen on giving himself another try in 2014 too. By then, he would have been 87—-too old to lead a country where every second person is aged below 25 years. But the party went ahead and opted for Modi.


On June 10, Advani resigned from the party’s National Executive, its Parliamentary Board and its Election Committee. This is unlikely to hurt the party’s electoral prospects. However, he promptly withdrew after being advised on the telephone by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Chief Mohan Bhagawat.


GVL Narasimha Rao, a member of the BJP’s National Election Cell, said: "If you ask me, we are already at the bottom of the Indian Ocean! Therefore, things cannot get any worse for us!! With Modi at the helm, we can only go one way: Up, Up and UP!!!"


The UPA’s second five-year stint in office has been plagued by a series of corruption scandals, leading to the resignations of over half a dozen ministers, and jail terms to some ministers and MPs. Across the country, there appears to be a mood of despondency.


Centre for Media Studies (CMS) Chairman and noted psephologist Dr N Bhaskara Rao said: "India is looking for a change of government led by a decisive and strong leader. Modi seems to fit the bill."


Several opinion polls conducted by newspapers, magazines and television networks in recent months show that Modi is miles ahead of all other aspirants for prime ministership. In many of them, 30% to 40% of those interviewed favour Modi for the country’s top job.


Rahul Gandhi, Dr Singh himself, Advani and the BJP’s Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley have polled between 5% and 15%. These polls were conducted before Modi was appointed as the BJP national election committee chief.


With his appointment as the BJP’s national poll panel chief, his stock will go up even further.


Modi has been Gujarat chief minister since October 2001. There have been no charges of corruption against him. Modi says he wants his state to compete with China by achieving a rate of growth that’s higher than India’s. He enjoys the reputation of being a decisive and no-nonsense leader who brooks no criticism. He is not known to have any children, and lives alone. Though said to be married, nothing is known about his wife. So, he does not need to indulge in corruption or nepotism.

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