BJP plays safe on whether Modi will head 2014 poll panel

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday downplayed reports that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi will head the campaign committee for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, and said that party chief Rajnath Singh will take a final call on it at an appropriate time.

BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar lauded Modi, saying he is one of the most respected and successful BJP chief ministers.

"Narendra Modi is our most senior and successful chief minister. He is quite popular among the people throughout the country and has become a symbol of corruption-free governance," said Javadekar.

"Now, what responsibilities he should be given and when he should be given that is a subject for the parliamentary board and the national president. The national president will make announcements at an appropriate time ," he added.

Javadekar further drew the attention of the media to the two-day national executive meeting of the BJP, which is beginning in Goa on June 8.

He said that there are a number of issues before the country, which will be discussed at the meeting and future strategies will be formulated.

The BJP yesterday swept the six by-elections to Lok Sabha and Assembly seats in Gujarat. Wresting all the six seats from Congress in Gujarat, the BJP won the Lok Sabha by-elections in Porbandar and Banaskantha with a margin of over 1.28 lakh and 71,000 votes respectively and bagged the assembly seats of Limbadi, Morva Hadaf, Jetpur and Doraji by handsome margins.