BJP to decide on Narendra Modi’s elevation today

Panaji: The BJP on Sunday will take a call on appointing Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the head of a crucial 2014 general election campaign committee, even as his potential ascent has created a sharp rift within the party.
The party also took strong exception to both Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaders taking what it called “cheap” potshots at the euphoria within the party in anticipation of Modi’s ascent. “The Congress should stop making such unbecoming remarks. We never speak in similar vein about Sonia Gandhi,” Javadekar said, after Congress spokesperson Renuka Chowdhury suggested that an epidemic of “NaMonia” was spreading in Goa and taking a toll on the party leaders who are camping in the resort state for the conclave.

Apart from Advani, other important leaders missing from the meeting were Jaswant Singh, Uma Bharti, Shatrughan Sinha, Varun Gandhi, and Maneka Gandhi.
The BJP veteran reportedly ill, skipped the BJP National Executive meet, for the first time in his entire political career, casting a long shadow on Modi’s prime ministerial aspirations. The party was at pains to explain the absence of the 85-year-old leader, with a spokesperson insisting that his health was really bad.