Bangalore, Apr. 19 (ANI): Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Arun Jaitley on Friday played down his party”s spat with the Janata Dal (United) over Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi being touted as the Prime Ministerial candidate for 2014, saying his political outfit is interested in gaining not sacrificing.
“I don”t think there is any controversy. As I have said, he is certainly a very popular leader. He is certainly one of the popular leaders of the BJP. We are proud of that fact,” he said.
Jaitley also ruled out the emergence of a Third Front as a stronger force than UPA or NDA in Lok Sabha polls, saying it is a failed idea.
Reiterating his party”s demand for a secular Prime Ministerial candidate, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had last weekend made a scathing attack on his Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi, and said that the Janata Dal (United) is not ready to compromise on secularism.
The JD (U), which appears to have made up its mind that it would accept only someone with a secular image, does not want to wait till the very end and wants the BJP to declare its leader for 2014 now.
The JD (U), which has 20 Lok Sabha MPs, is averse to Modi being touted by many to be the BJP”s Prime Ministerial candidate, due to the 2002 communal riots. (ANI)