In clear signs that BJP wants to continue its ties with ally JD-U, BJP President Rajnath Singh today said keeping the NDA coalition intact is a prime concern for his party and attempts will be made to resolve all issues with partners.
In an interaction with journalists at the Indian Women's Press Corps here, Singh praised and defended Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi but appeared to give primacy to keeping NDA partners together.
While JD-U has bluntly told BJP that Modi - who faces the taint of the post-Godhra 2002 riots in Gujarat - is not acceptable as the Prime Ministerial candidate, Shiv Sena too has expressed its reservations.
Insisting that BJP does not favour losing its allies, Singh said in reply to a question: "I believe that we (JD-U and BJP) will contest the 2014 elections together. Things have not become so bad. We will discuss the issues with them."
"The crisis (due to differences with JD-U) is unfortunate but BJP would not want an ally to go away. We will sit together and sort out the differences," he said.
Singh maintained that allies have their "own ideology, political thought, programmes and principles" which may differ from that of the BJP.
Asked if BJP would declare its Prime Ministerial candidate before the elections as demanded by JD-U, Singh said all things cannot be made public at this juncture.
"But if BJP emerges as the single largest party, our effort will be that no crisis arises (between BJP and its allies). We will talk to them and make efforts to discuss all issues with them. We would not like to lose our allies or break the NDA," Singh said.
Though he gave the standard reply of BJP's Parliamentary Board having the final say on who should be the party's PM candidate, he appeared to give the impression that the party was ready to discuss the issue with its allies and look into their concerns.