Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's annointment today as chief of BJP's Election Campaign Committee drew a muted response from key ally JD-U which said it is an "internal matter" of that party but was enthusiastically welcomed by other allies SAD and Shiv Sena.
Apparently playing down the elevation of Modi over whom it had reservations, JD-U, the BJP's senior partner in Bihar's ruling coalition, at the same time insisted that the NDA's Prime Ministerial candidate will be decided by all constituents of the alliance.
"What BJP decides is that party's internal matter. Whom they make the party president or chairman of a particular committee in their party is what concerns them.
"He (Modi) has not become NDA's campaign committee chairman," JD-U President Sharad Yadav told PTI over phone from Chennai.
Yadav, who is also NDA convenor, at the same time, said that NDA functioned for 17 years according to its national agenda and "whoever becomes the PM candidate has to accept that national agenda".
He said that NDA's PM candidate will be decided in NDA after BJP declares its candidate.
"BJP will decide its PM candidate and then it will be brought up before NDA. NDA's PM candidate will be decided by NDA, with BJP and all its contituents," Yadav said, indicating that his party's reservations on Modi as BJP's PM candidate continues.
JD-U's and, in particular, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's antipathy towards Modi is well-known.
"He(Modi) has been made chairman of the BJP's poll campaign committee, not the NDA's," said senior JD (U) leader Devesh Chandra Thakur.
Echoing Yadav's views, Thakur said Modi's new responsibility was an internal matter of the BJP. "BJP president Rajnath Singh has assured us that NDA allies would be consulted before any decision on the NDA's PM nominee. That's good enough for us," he told reporters.
Shiromani Akali Dal supremo and Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal described as a "master-stroke" Modi's appointment and said it was a knockout punch against a "staggering" UPA government.
"This has already sent shock-waves in the UPA and completely demoralised it, as is borne out by nervous reactions of their leaders," he said in a statement.
