BJP's Modi-for-PM announcement a matter of time

The announcement of Gujarat chief minister and BJP’s national campaign committee chairman Narendra Modi as the prime ministerial candidate is hanging fire.

Sources in the BJP say there is no confusion within the party and they also assure, speaking on condition of anonymity, that the announcement will be made soon. There are, however, quite a few interpretations on how the Modi anointment will take place.

The furious and frenetic speculation in the media that Friday is decision (D) day is being discounted by many party leaders because until late on Thursday evening there was no intimation of the Central Parliamentary Board (CPB) meeting, which is the party’s highest decision-making body, and which is expected to decide on the issue of the prime ministerial candidate of the party for the 2014 Lok Sabha election.

The first interpretation coming from the camp of party patriarch LK Advani is that the announcement about Modi cannot be made without calling a meeting of the CPB because for more than a year now the stand taken by all the senior leaders, including party president Rajnath Singh, was that the issue of who will be the prime ministerial candidate will be decided by the CPB. And that it would go against the party convention to announce Modi’s candidacy directly.

The other interpretation is that Rajnath Singh has been authorised to announce the name of the prime ministerial candidate and that it can be done even without the CPB meeting. And that the issue has been deliberated upon by the CPB, and as in any democratic forum, there are different views from certain members — three or four of the 11 — and that Rajnath Singh will take the call based on the majority’s view.

The view from the pro-Modi camp, which also seems to be the majority voice, is that the Gujarat chief minister’s name will be announced before the traditional “pitrpaksha” (a fortnight meant for the ancestors) period during which no auspicious decision is made. The ancestral fortnight begins on September 20, and the announcement will be made before that. A source said that it includes Friday (today) as well.

The mature view in the party seems to be that the announcement will be made only after a meeting of the CPB, and that there is no concrete opposition to Modi despite the dissidents, who are clearly outnumbered. There is quite a bit of uncertainty in the party with some of the insiders admitting that there is no clarity about the timing of the announcement.