The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday criticized the Congress for not being able to politically engage with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi which was the reason for the party not being able to take an internal decision on their Prime Ministerial candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Speaking to media persons here today, BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitaraman said that Congress' repeated loses to their party in Gujarat has left the ruling party confused.
"On the political stage, it is not clear how the Congress engages with Modi. They have lost three elections in Gujarat against Modi and, before that, two other elections were lost to the BJP. The Congress have lost total of five elections in Gujarat. Thus, they do not know how to be a strong candidate against Modi in Gujarat. Forget about winning, they cannot even compete with strength in Gujarat. ...They aren't firm on their stand with regard to Modi. They must admit that they have failed to politically engage with Modi and have been confused in the past and are still are," Sitaraman said.
There has been much debate regarding BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate in the past few months, but Sitaraman on Sunday confirmed that an internal decision on the matter has not been taken yet.
"He (Narendra Modi) is handling the mandate of Campaign Committee Chairman for now. Nothing has been decided within the BJP about the Prime Ministerial candidate, so don't be confused about that. We do not share the same confusion. The Party will decide who will be the Prime Ministerial candidate, we cannot respond to your suggestions," Sitaraman added.
Earlier today, Bharatiya Janata Youth Morcha (BJYM) demonstrators took to the streets of New Delhi protesting against BJP leader Shatrughan Sinha's statement which endorsed Senior party leader L.K. Advani as their Prime Ministerial candidate. Sinha had earlier controversially praised Janata Dal (United) chief Nitish Kumar deeming his credentials "Prime Minister material."
However, BJP President Rajnath Singh had assured earlier this month that there is an internal consensus on the party's Prime Ministerial candidate.
Nitish Kumar's JD(U) had walked out the NDA after Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was elevated to Chairman of the Campaign Committee.