Narendra Modi’s rise not behind L K Advani’s anger: Rajnath Singh

“Advaniji is our mentor and guide. As a fatherly figure,he has every right to express his concerns and anger. None of us can overlook his services and contribution in building the party,” Singh said at the Express Adda.

Responding to a question on whether the BJP would project Modi as the prime ministerial candidate,he said: “At the moment,we have just appointed Modi as the campaign committee chief. But I can assure people that the BJP will not ignore the pulse of the people.”

Addressing an eclectic audience that included top CEOs and foreign dignitaries,Singh,who was in conversation with Shekhar Gupta,Editor-in-chief of The Indian Express,said the BJP is planning to evolve a Common Minimum Programme (CMP) in consultation with its National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners ahead of the 2014 elections.

To make it more acceptable as an alternative to the Congress-led coalition,the party needs to put more efforts and take corrective measures to build confidence amongst other backward communities,he said.

“The BJP will not play a foul game. The BJP-led NDA will fight together and we will have a CMP. We will sit together and decide what our CMP will be and then go in front of the people,” he said.

However,if the allies were not forthcoming on the CMP,then all parties can go ahead and have separate agendas,Singh said. “Often regional parties have their separate agendas to cater to their vote bank. But all these factors will be considered after adequate consultations with partners in the NDA,” he said.

The BJP president said there was no special attempt nor any proposal for a pre-poll alliance to strengthen the NDA. “As far as pre-poll alliance is concerned,there is no proposal in front of us right now to increase the number of allies than what is presently with us. There is a possibility we will get adequate numbers to come to power on our own,” Singh said.

The party will always accommodate all friendly parties which have stood with the NDA,he said.

He dismissed concerns about the BJP being left with just the Shiv Sena and the Akali Dal,which again do not have other alliance options. “Atal Behari Vajpayee managed to get the support of 24 alliance parties once the BJP emerged as the single largest party in the polls,” Singh said.

Similarly,the UPA also came into being after the Congress emerged the single largest party,he pointed out.