'BJP may hint at PM candidate during national executive meet'

Some signals may be sent regarding the prime ministerial candidature during the BJP national executive meet later this month June, a Goa minister said Monday.

Health Minister Laxmikant Parsekar, a member of the national executive and a former state president, said that while the meet would discuss "national strategies" ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, it could also indicate who the Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate would be.

"Some signals may be sent," Parsekar said.

Parsenkar admitted that the state had been a happy hunting ground for Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, especially because an earlier national executive meet held here in 2002 after the Gujarat riots had served as a political launchpad for him, with the party firmly backing him.

Modi is expected to land in Goa at noon June 7, the first day of the three-day event. He will be the only BJP chief minister to address a meeting of top state leaders and office bearers near Panaji on the final day.

"Modi is an object of affection for us. We have received requests to hold a public meeting even in the rains because people wanted to hear Modi speak. 'Even if it rains, we will come with umbrellas', our party men told us," Parsenkar said.