NDA Allies for Advani as PM, Say No to Modi
Amid speculation that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi could be BJP’s prime ministerial candidate in next Lok Sabha elections, key allies of the BJP in the NDA have asserted that only LK Advani is acceptable to them as the prime ministerial candidate.
Janata Dal-United (JD-U) in Bihar, Asom Gana Parisad (AGP) in Assam and Akali Dail in Pujab are among the main NDA allies declaring that they consider only Advani for the top most executive post for this election as declared by the NDA.
Bihar Chief Minister and JD-U leader Nitish Kumar said that Modi was not acceptable to his party. There is already speculation that the party can snap ties with the BJP depending on the results of the elections.
“Some BJP leaders are suggesting Modi as PM. Our stand is very clear on our choice of prime minister and that would be senior BJP leader Advani, not Narendra Modi,” said Shivanand Tiwari, the JD-U national spokesperson
Similarly, the Akali Dal in Punjab said that it was not thinking of Modi as PM, too. Daljeet Singh Cheema, the Akali Dal candidate for Anandpur Sahib seat and political adviser to state chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, said that BJP is fighting this election with Advani as prime ministerial candidate and Akali will go by that only.
“In the present context, even the BJP is not proposing any other name,” he said.
AGP in Assam is said that it had truck with the BJP only to contest the elections together.
“The debate over Narendra Modi and Advani as prime minister is an internal matter of the BJP. Since we don’t have any alliance with the BJP and just a seat sharing agreement for the Lok Sabha elections, we are not really bothered about that. The debate is unnecessary as the BJP had already projected Advani as the prime ministerial candidate and we have full confidence in his leadership,” said AGP spokesperson Atul Bora.
