He has not spared the expenditure for this purpose of building him up. He has used high tech methods for addressing public meetings and modern Information Technology tools like the Facebook and the Twitter. Modi has emerged as a cult personality without being the head of a party like Mayawati or Mamata or Jayalalithaa or Mulayam Singh. People either like him or hate him and he had polarized the country vertically.

Modi may have crossed the first hurdle of winning the state for the third time but there are many more in the hurdle race ahead. For the past one year, he had done nothing but placing himself as the frontrunner for the country’s top job. But despite all his plusses, it is not going to be that easy. First of all there is no slot right now in the BJP headquarters. The RSS and the BJP have to decide whether BJP chief Gadkari should get a second term. His term ends on December 19. The most important thing is to convince the RSS that Modi is the man to deliver. Relationship between the two is at present quite chilly. In any case Modi has to be backed by the RSS, as the BJP leaders will support only the man backed by the parent body. Even if they agree on Modi, could he leave the state, which he has won for the third time soon after the hat-trick? Will not the people of Gujarat expect him to stay in Ahmadabad at least for some time? The BJP insiders claim that he might move to the centre once the decision is taken but at a later date. He could just put in his papers in the morning and reach Delhi in the afternoon to take over his new responsibilities. The other option is for Modi to declare that now that he has delivered the state he would work for the party and then BJP will have to find a job for him.

The second problem would be whether he would get the peer support. It is not one or two but there are at least half a dozen aspirants who would be disappointed if they are not considered. Who would persuade them? Senior BJP leader Advani himself is not very enthusiastic about Modi. Leaders of Opposition in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley are themselves aspirants. Modi has not endeared himself to the second rung leaders because of his arrogant behaviour. A consensus has to be built within the party.

The third would be the allies. Modi is not Advani or Vajpayee for the allies to accept him without a murmur. Bihar chief Minister Nitish Kumar has made it clear that the JD would not support Modi. The vibes between the two are obviously not good and Nitish Kumar did not even want Modi to campaign for the party during the Bihar Assembly elections. JD (U) is one of the biggest allies of the BJP in the NDA. The other long time ally Shiv Sena but the Sena supremo late Bal Thackeray had gone on record that he would support Sushma Swaraj a month before he died. The BJP should think of its 2014 electoral strategy much in advance. Modi at the helm of affairs may put off the allies. Also it will polarize the electorate. Whether the party wants to take this risk is very important. With great difficulty the BJP managed to shed its untouchable tag and managed to get many allies in 1998. Is the party in a position to take such a risk? If the aim is to usurp power, how can BJP do so on its own? Modi would be acceptable only when the BJP gets at least 250 on its own.

The fourth is the style of functioning of Modi. He is a loner. He does not like to share power. Even on the issue of campaign he had left it to the BJP leader Arun Jaitley in 2002, but in 2007 he tried to take control and in 2012, he was totally in control. Some in the BJP criticize him for not trusting his colleagues and holding on to several portfolios. He obviously does not believe in power sharing. If he moves to the centre, he should change his style of functioning and take everybody along and also share power. Will he able to do this?

The fifth is for Modi to shed his present image for the Godhra carnage. He has been trying very hard to do so but the secularists in the country are not willing to buy it. He has somewhat successfully managed to change his image abroad with his development tag. With his Time magazine cover story as a doer and the UK showing interests in doing business with him, he has broken the ice.

Although the media has been projecting his national role for the past one-year whether he can win the hurdle race with all his pluses and minuses is a million dollar question.(IPA Service)