New Delhi: Uneasy with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) dictating it who should head the party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is making a last ditch effort to get Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi to give his nod to become the next party chief.
RSS supremo Mohan Bhagwat virtually named the outgoing BJP president Rajnath Singh's successor by indicating his preference for Nitin Gadkari, the incumbent Maharashtra BJP chief, putting the party in a fix.
Bhagwat had recently created a storm in the party by openly saying that none of the four-Delhi based leaders would be the new BJP chief.
Although the RSS chief did not name the four leaders, it virtually ended chances of Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, M. Venkaiah Naidu and Ananth Kumar, all considered close to veteran leader Lal Krishna Advani.
Rajnath Singh, himself a nominee of the RSS, is set to demit office on December 31 after completing his stipulated three-year tenure. BJP constitution does not allow an incumbent chief to run for a second consecutive term.
Incidentally, despite having provision of election, BJP has been electing its president by consensus ever since it came into being in 1980.
Advani faction in particular is unhappy with the RSS trying to evolve a consensus over Gadkari's candidature as they feel he lacks the experience and stature to head the party at such a crucial juncture when rebuilding the party is a must to gear it up to reclaim power at the centre.
