The party leadership in Madhya Pradesh has already said no to him. They don't want him to visit the state to campaign for the party candidates.
The BJP leadership, which is in a state of shock following the arrest of Sadhvi Pragya Thakur for her alleged role in masterminding the bomb blast that shook the city of Malegaon in Maharashtra on September 29, is groping in dark whether or not field Modi for party campaign.
The units of all the poll-bound states of the BJP have reportedly urged the central leadership not to engage Modi for the campaign trail.
It is worth mentioning here that a few days back the same party units had sought more than 100 meetings of Modi during the campaign. They were now forced by circumstances to change their mind following the stratling revelation by Mumbai's anti terrorism squad establishing links of ultra right Hindu activists with the BJP leadership.
The BJP president Rajnath Singh and Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan were shown with the arrested sadhvi in a picture published in a newspaper.
The full pack itinerary of the Gujarat Chief Minister for the poll bound states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Delhi were already prepared and all were vying for him to raise anti terror pitch in the states. His schedule of public meetings was cancelled at the instance of party's central leadership.
However, in the backdrop of recent revelation and the arrest of Sadhvi Pragya Thakur in connection with Malegaon incident, the party sources said that Madhya Pradesh has decided to keep Modi off from election trail.
The Gujarat Chief Minister Modi has lately been aggressively positioning himself as a `saviour' against the alleged onslaught of terrorist activities in various parts of the country.
However, his larger than life image has also caused tension within the BJP's ranks and file as he has also been projecting himself as an unchallenged leader of the party who would ultimately take over the rein from party's current Prime Ministerial candidate.
``Known for his high-handedness in tackling the terror activities and take the bull by its horns, Modi could prove counter productive as his own party leaders had been seen check by jowl with the Hindu right wing extremist groups,†said a senior party leader.(EON)
India: Bharatiya Janata Party
Modi's image can harm poll prospects, feels BJP
Would not field its anti-terror mascot for poll campaign
Kushal Jeena - 30-10-2008 11:21 GMT-0000
New Delhi: Despite a hope to ride on anti-terror wave in the ensuing assembly polls in five states in India, the Bhartiya Janata Party finds itself in a precarious position as their anti-terror mascot `Narender Modi' is not much in demand for election campaign trail.