Crowd pulling ability not enough to qualify for PM's post: Uma

Amid a clamour for projecting Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as BJP's prime ministerial candidate, senior party leader Uma Bharti today said the ability to pull crowds is not enough to qualify for the post.
Bharti, a vice-president of the BJP, said L K Advani is the unparallelled leader of the party like Atal Bihari Vajpayee but was evasive on whether he should be the PM candidate.
"Many people have to sit and decide who should be the Prime Ministerial candidate of the BJP. Many feel that there should be a candidate. Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L K Advani are such leaders who have contributed so much that whether they hold any post or not their importance will not be lessened. Advani is a saint," Bharti told PTI in an interview.

When referred to voices within the party for projecting Modi as the PM candidate as he is "popular", Bharti refused to comment. However, she said, "Crowd-pulling capacity alone cannot be the criteria. There are several BJP leaders who are big crowd-pullers. Modi is one, so is Advani, Sushma Swaraj. I am also a crowd-puller."
To a question, she said, "The NDA, the people and the BJP workers should have a say in deciding the PM candidate."
On insistence of key ally JD-U that the PM candidate should be secular, Bharti said they have a right to say so. "But we are all secular. Nitish Kumar is also secular since he is a Hindu."

Bharti maintained that there were several leaders within the BJP, including at the state level, who have the potential to be PM. However, she added that she cannot decide on the issue.