Keeping NDA intact prime concern for BJP: Rajnath Singh

While JD-U has bluntly told BJP that Modi — who faces the taint of the post-Godhra 2002 riots in Gujarat — is not acceptable as the prime ministerial candidate,Shiv Sena too has expressed its reservations.

Insisting that BJP does not favour losing its allies,Singh said in reply to a question: “I believe that we (JD-U and BJP) will contest the 2014 elections together. Things have not become so bad. We will discuss the issues with them.

“The crisis (due to differences with JD-U) is unfortunate but BJP would not want an ally to go away. We will sit together and sort out the differences,” he said.

Singh maintained that allies have their “own ideology,political thought,programmes and principles” which may differ from that of the BJP.

Asked if BJP would declare its prime ministerial candidate before the elections as demanded by JD-U,Singh said all things cannot be made public at this juncture.

“But if BJP emerges as the single largest party,our effort will be that no crisis arises (between BJP and its allies). We will talk to them and make efforts to discuss all issues with them. We would not like to lose our allies or break the NDA,” Singh said.

Though he gave the standard reply of BJP’s Parliamentary Board having the final say on who should be the party’s PM candidate,he appeared to give the impression that the party was ready to discuss the issue with its allies and look into their concerns.

The BJP president denied reports that he had asked his party leaders from Bihar that they should get ready to fight the Lok Sabha elections without JD-U as an ally.

Singh also made light of the article in ally Shiv Sena’s mouthpiece ‘Saamna’ saying Modi is not much of a hardliner. “Shiv Sena is an old ally. We would want that all our allies stay with us,” he said.

At the same time,Singh was all praise for Modi and defended him on the 2002 Godhra train burning and the riots that followed.

Asked about the charge that Modi had said for every action there is bound to be a reaction to justify the riots,Singh said,“I have been chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. Nobody wants riots in his state… I do not believe Modi tried to provoke the riots. Nobody can say he tried to provoke… It could not be verified that Modi had said so.”

He raked up the reported comments of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi during the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 and said it was another leader who said in 1984 that when a big tree falls,the earth shakes.

Defending the party’s decision to induct Modi into the Parliamentary Board,Singh said he is the “senior most CM” and there was only one vacancy.

He also maintained that Modi is secular. “No communal person can survive in BJP as it is the most secular political party while Congress is the most communal,” he said.

Asked if the growing acceptance of Modi in the European Union and to some extent the US meant he is now set to be BJP’s PM candidate,Singh said such inference cannot be drawn.

Replying to questions about some leaders batting for senior leader L K Advani for the top post,Singh said there is no race in the BJP for Prime Ministership and neither does anybody make a claim for it.

“Advani is our leader and guide,” Singh said,adding that even in his discussions with Modi the latter has never expressed his ambition to become Prime Minister.