Modi may be anointed tomorrow

Hurdles are finally cleared and the BJP Parliamentary Board is expected to meet on Sept 13 or 16, when the decision would be made public even though last-minute efforts to placate Advani failed

New Delhi (Agencies): It is now certain that Narendra Modi will be the BJP's mascot for mission 2014, and an official announcement of his anointment is expected on Friday at the earliest. Sources said all the hurdles are finally cleared and the BJP Parliamentary Board is expected to meet on September 13 or 16, when the decision would be made public even though last-minute efforts to placate LK Advani had failed. What’s the hurry, he asks. He has the backing of Sushma Swaraj, Murli Manohar Joshi, Jaswant Singh, Yaswant Sinha and others.

Notwithstanding the anti-Modi lobby, reports say, BJP chief Rajnath Singh is in fact examining suitable dates for the official anointment and prefers it before September 19, when the period of Shraadh begins and is considered inauspicious. September 17 is Modi’s birthday. RSS is keen that Modi be named as the PM candidate well before the dates for Assembly elections are announced.

Former BJP president Nitin Gadkari met Advani on Tuesday evening before leaving for Nagpur to win over his support. After days of backroom parleys, the RSS also said on record that Modi enjoyed their full support. RSS spokesperson Ram Madhav made it obvious when he said, “The whole world knows who we are referring to. The country wants a change and we also realise it. During the RSS-BJP meeting this issue came up and it has been conveyed to the leadership in the party. Now the decision has to be taken by them but from our side the message has been given that the voters in the country want a change."

The RSS has also played down internal strife in the BJP over the anointment of Modi. The BJP was asked to put up a united front, though it denied there was any divide.

Modi hits out at Cong for graft and misgovernance

Modi launched the Rajasthan election campaign for the BJP at Jaipur on Tuesday. A for Adarsh, B for Bofors and Bhanwari, C for Coalgate and CWG and D for damaad ka karobar (son-in-law's business). This new definition of ABCD set the tone of poll campaign against the Congress-led government at the Centre and in Rajasthan.

Three days after accusing Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh of "sending the rupee to hospital", the BJP's campaign committee chief hit out at the UPA government once again for "rampant corruption and irresponsible governance".

"The Congress that is more concerned about saving its own prestige rather than saving the image of the country or the value of rupee is misfit to rule the nation," he said at the Jaipur rally. "Corruption has become Congress's ornament," he said, urging the people to rid the country of the party.

With his 45-minute long speech at the crowded rally, Modi kick-started the BJP's election campaign in Rajasthan in the presence of party president Rajnath Singh. The event was organised to conclude the 78-day-long statewide road show - Suraj Sankalp Rally - of state BJP president and former chief minister Vasundhara Raje.

Taking a jibe at the Prime Minister, who recently returned from St. Petersburg after attending the G-20 summit, Modi said: "Nobody in the country knows what Manmohan Singh said or did for national interest at the G-20 summit, but immediately after the event, he announced the name of his new boss (Rahul Gandhi), under whom he was prepared to work in future."