February 5, 2013- BJP chief Rajnath Singh’s gag order on his party colleagues against airing their views on the party’s prime ministerial face was flouted in no time with two MPs, both from Bihar, continuing with their ” Narendra Modi- as- PM” campaign.
Barely hours after Singh’s statement asking party leaders to hold their views on the PM race, cinestar- turned- politician Shatrughan Sinha defied his orders by expressing his support to Modi as the BJP’s PM candidate.
“I fully endorse Yashwant Sinha ji ‘s view of Modi being our PM candidate,” Sinha said. He was supposedly pulled up for violating the party chief’s directive on Monday.
Late on Monday night, Sinha said he would not like to respond to any rumours, gossips and suggestions regarding the show cause notice being issued to him by the party over his statements.
“I have no official information about it,” he said.
He, however, insisted that he had always remained a disciplined worker in the party. “I did not specifically mention Modi’s name. In fact, I have even praised Nitish Kumar as a worthy candidate,” he added.
Sinha wasn’t the only one to defy the order. Former Bihar BJP chief C. P. Thakur, a known Modibacker, reiterated his support for the Gujarat CM. “BJP will certainly gain by declaring Modi as the PM candidate… There is a feeling among the people that he should be the candidate,” Thakur said.
Their defiance flew in the face of Singh’s diktat. In an unusually stern statement, Singh had on Monday afternoon issued a ” final” warning to his party members to stop making comments on who the PM candidate should be.
“I want to humbly appeal to the BJP workers and leaders that there should be no statement from them on who will be the candidate for the prime minister’s post. As I have said earlier, the BJP convention is that any decision on the chief ministerial or prime ministerial candidate is taken by the Central Parliamentary Board,” Singh said on Monday.
“I am making this appeal as our leaders usually behave within the prescribed limits and such comments hurt everybody. I am not going to make this appeal that I am making, again,” he added sternly.Singh has instructed his party members to answer all questions related to the BJP’s PM candidate by stating that the power to decide this rests with the board.
“Whether to speak, who will speak or not speak, what is to be said ( on such an issue) will be decided by the board. So if any question is asked by the media, then all leaders should say that a final decision on the issue will be taken by the board, he said.
Singh had issued the warning earlier too but it had no effect on his party members.
BJP MP from Aonla, Maneka Gandhi, also ignored Singh’s orders by expressing her opinion.
“Modi is among the five to six top BJP leaders who can make a good PM. I will support the party in all its decisions,” she said.
However, Singh found some support in NDA convener Sharad Yadav, who termed the entire debate untimely and unnecessary.
“This unnecessary search for prime ministership should end,” Yadav, president of the Janata Dal ( United), said.
“Parties in the NDA should rather focus on key issues confronting the nation such as corruption and the economic crisis. I have never seen such a mad rush for prime ministership in the last six decades,” he added.Both Singh and Yadav realise that the speculation on the PM candidate might cause fissures within the NDA. On one hand, Modi has received the endorsement of the Shiromani Akali Dal ( Badal), and many leaders of the BJP, the JD( U) remains fiercely opposed to his candidature.
The Shiv Sena has expressed its preference for Sushma Swaraj.
