BY DEVBRAT ROY CHAUDHARY
NOTWITHSTANDING
what his admirers may say, the path to Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi’s
anointment as the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate is ridden with pitfalls.
Standing in the way of his ambitions are elements from both within and outside
the Sangh Parivar fold.
On
Friday, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat thought it fit to mention Bihar before Gujarat
in the development sweepstakes. And while the RSS may be obfuscating the issue
ever since, you can be sure that not all people who matter in the Sangh Parivar
are happy with Modi’s growing stature in the BJP. For this, the Gujarat CM has
nobody but himself to blame. He may think that ruling the state with an iron
hand, building a personality cult round himself and tom- tomming his pro-
development credentials will do the trick for him but the problem with this
approach is that it wins him more enemies than admirers. The Sangh may like
Modi’s Hindutva leanings but it certainly does not want the RSS to play second
fiddle to whoever emerges as the BJP’s supreme leader.
As
for the party itself, the likes of L. K. Advani, Nitin Gadkari and Sushma
Swaraj who fancy their prime ministerial chances will be more than willing to
put a spoke in Modi’s wheel should circumstances give them an opportunity.
But
these hurdles pale before the challenge that is posed to Modi by Bihar chief
minister Nitish Kumar. With a constituency in Bihar to preserve, Nitish is
likely to go to any length to scuttle Modi’s prospects.
Given
that his JD( U) is the second largest ally in the NDA, what he wants will also
matter more than is evident at this stage. A scenario where Nitish vetoes
Modi’s candidature will just be what his rivals within the BJP would be hoping
for to further their own prospects. Besieged from within and without as he is,
it would be a foolish Modi who counts his chickens before they hatch.
The biggest hurdle for the Gujarat chief minister would be Bihar CM
Nitish Kumar, who’s likely to dash his chances
