Having beaten anti-incumbency and the Congress for the third time in a row, paving the way for a BJP government in Gujarat for the fifth successive term, Narendra Modi has reignited the debate over his possible re-entry in national politics, perhaps as the party’s prime ministerial candidate.
Of course, Modi could not breach the psychological 117-seat mark — the number the party had won in the 2007 elections — but that didn’t prevent the party rank and file in Gujarat in making a war cry for making “Modi the next Prime Ministerial candidate”.
“2012 is only the trailer, 2014 is the real picture”, “2012 Modi CM, 2014 Modi PM” read some of the placards that party workers waved near the party headquarters in Ahmedabad on Thursday as results started pouting in.
In the evening, when Modi was giving his victory speech near the area, his supporters stalled the speech, with their deafening cries of “PM, PM, Dilli, Dilli”.
Modi’s closest advisors, like BJP national vice president Purushottam Rupala, joined the chorus, saying “it was the wish of the entire country to see Modi as the next PM, but this would be decided ultimately by Modi himself”. BJP spokesperson Tarun Vijay and Rajya Sabha MP from the State Smriti Irani, too, seemed to second the call.