Narendra Modi’s prime ministerial ambitions are no secret. But a series of foot faults, stemming from the Gujarat chief minister’s fabled arrogance, appears to have made serious dents in his bid for the top slot.
Confident of sweeping the assembly poll due this year, Modi planned to renounce power to public acclaim and move to New Delhi next year as the BJP president. From that vantage point, he expected to lead the charge in the 2014 general elections.
Now, however, he seems to have alienated both the BJP leaders as well as the RSS. When Advani announced his nation-wide rath yatra against corruption in October, Modi sought to pre-empt him with his sadbhavana fast, an endeavour undertaken at state expense in Ahmedabad and advertised all across the country. However, Congress leader Shankersinh Vaghela’s counter-fast outside Sabarmati ashram reduced it to a Modi-Vaghela clash, with the latter bagging equal mileage at the former’s expense.
Modi also sulked and threw tantrums when his arch-rival Sanjay Joshi was rehabilitated and given charge of the party’s campaign in Uttar Pradesh. The Gujarat CM retaliated by skipping the last national executive meeting. He also allegedly put impossible conditions for campaigning in UP, which were brushed aside by party chief Nitin Gadkari.
The likely extension of Gadkari’s tenure, ordained by Nagpur, by enabling changes in the party constitution, clearly indicates that, for the moment, Modi will have to wait it out or, at best, be given a job subordinating him to the party chief.
Modi’s already paid heavily for giving the last national executive meet a miss. It’s not certain if he’ll attend the next. Should he skip it again, he may as well bid goodbye to his hopes for featuring as BJP’s prime ministerial candidate.
