Shekhawat appears to have the backing of NDA stalwarts who want to check its Prime Ministerial candidate L K Advani finding him incompetent to match the Prime Minister and Indian National Congress leader Manmohan Singh.

BJP has officially reiterated that Lalkrishna Advani is party's PM candidate, however majority of the senior leaders in the opposition alliance are of the view that the hard line Hindutva image of Advani won't be enough to match the competence of the ruling United Progressive Alliance government, which it has been displaying in the aftermath of the 26/11 terror strike in Mumbai, India's commercial hub.

“It would not be a wise decision to continue with Advani as NDA's Prime Ministerial candidate at a time when the present regime has virtually isolated Pakistan on diplomatic front and convinced the international community of its active involvement in the terror strike because it was Advani who was heading the Home Ministry when Parliament was attacked and terrorists were not only let off but escorted to Kandahar,” said a senior JD (U) leader who declined to be identified.

On the contrary Shekhawat has a clean, secular and elderly image that has acceptability across the parties and could easily be projected as a strong candidate to the UPA nominee for country's top executive slot. Shekhawat's recent declaration that he is willing to fight upcoming Lok Sabha election has given sleepless nights to the BJP leadership particularly those who are directly linked to Advani.

The very announcement of Shekawat that after contesting the Presidential election and loosing it to present incumbent President Pratibha Devi Singh Patil he is not associated with any political party, is evident of the fact that there is a possibility of he being nominated by any of the NDA allies who may want to put up a secular and largely accepted face to lead the opposition campaign trail in the next general elections.

Even though Shekhawat has not formally or informally approached the BJP leadership for a ticket, the senior party leaders including its president Rajnath Singh and Advani are in a dilemma as to how to stop him.

The BJP president has reportedly sought the help of party stalwart and former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee as Shekhawat is considered to be very close to him to persuade him to fall in line.

However, Advani loyalists don't rule out the possibility of Vajpayee's backing of the move that seems to have jointly launched by Shekhawat and some of the top NDA leaders.#