Modi may be elevated to central leadership

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Madhya Pradesh counterpart  Shivraj Singh Chauhan may be made members of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Parliamentary Board that takes vital decisions.

Now, the Parliamentary Board has 11 members and party president Rajnath Singh is the panel’s chairperson. All the top leaders of the party, including Atal Bihari Vajpayee – who does not attend meetings due to poor health – L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, M Venkiah Naidu, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitely and Ananth Kumar, are on the board.

Sources said Rajnath Singh might elevate Modi to the central leadership platform given the demand to project him as the prime ministerial candidate. In addition, to acknowledge the performance of leaders in the BJP-ruled states, the party may also bring on board the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister, who is equally popular in his state.

Interestingly, it was Rajnath Singh who removed Modi from the board during his previous stint as party president in 2009. But the equation between the two leaders seems to have changed since then as the Gujarat chief minister had come to the national capital and met Singh after the latter replaced Nitin Gadkari as party chief in a dramatic turn of events.

The party’s organisational set up may also witness a change with the inclusion of some new faces to give representation to various regions that are important in view of the upcoming elections. BJP leaders are keenly watching the strategy that Singh will draw to revive the party in his home state Uttar Pradesh, which is important to perform well in 2014 elections.

Sources said Uma Bharati, who recently returned to the party-fold, might get a post in the organisation. Accommodating former chief minister Kalyan Singh, who merged his party with the BJP, will be quite a task, they added.

Rajnath Singh and Narendra Modi are expected to attend Mahakumbh Mela in Allahabad where the VHP is holding its “Dharma Sansad” on Thursday.