No tussle in BJP over PM candidate, says Rudy

Party general secretary also downplayed speculation about the veteran leader LK Advani emerging as a contender for the BJP's PM candidate yet again

BJP today categorically ruled out any tussle among top leaders over the prime minister's post and said parliamentary board of the party will take a decision on it.

"There is no no tussle within the BJP over the prime ministerial candidate and the party's top leadership stands united behind the president Rajnath Singh," the party general secretary Rajiv Pratap Rudy told reporters.

He also sought to downplay speculation about the veteran leader LK Advani emerging as a contender for the BJP's PM candidate yet again after the Delhi unit chief Vijay Goel saying and said that the party's strategy will be communicated to the media.

Rudy predicted that the BJP will form the next government at the centre by ousting the Congress-led UPA government as it "has lost all credibility".

The country's economy, he alleged has slipped into a "morass" under prime minister Manmohan Singh with price rise, corruption and current account deficit being major concerns.

"The government is limping for survival on day-to-day basis on the support of SP and BSP even as some allies have lost faith and withdrawn support", he alleged.

The BJP leader said that even the senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh has admitted that the image of the UPA government has taken a beating due to the present two centres of power.

Claiming that an anti-incumbency wave was sweeping against the UPA government, Rudy said that the next general elections may take place in six to eight months.

Rudy also ruled out revival of the third front as a viable political entity and alleged the Communist Parties' bid to do so was nothing more than an "imaginary exercise" even as the credibility of the SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav has eroded.