Zeenews Bureau

Bangalore: With a growing clamor in the Bharatiya Janata Party for projecting Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the Prime Ministerial candidate and JD(U) opposed to it, can BJP effort to allow Gujarat CM Modi to lead party’s campaign in Karnataka during the upcoming Assembly polls?

In spite of JD(U)’s warning that it will have to reconsider its decision to continue its tie with the NDA, if Modi is projected as the PM candidate, BJP on Thursday has expressed its full confidence in JD(U) by saying, “Our valued coalition partner will not desert us”.

BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said, "JD(U) is a very, very valuable and long lasting ally of BJP."

The clean sweep of BJP under Narendra Modi leadership in Gujarat polls seems to have carved an imprint in the minds of top brass that under Modi’s leadership, the BJP can surely win 2014 General Elections.

But if we dig deeper into the facts, Modi’s win is neither unique nor is it solely based on claims of good governance and absence of corruption allegations. In fact, Shivraj Singh Chouhan of Madhya Pradesh, Nitish Kumar of Bihar and Naveen Patnaik of Orissa too claim similar track records of both electoral success as well as efficient administration.

Notably, few days before, while referring to media reports which suggested that senior BJP leader LK Advani and Narendra Modi might stay away from campaign in Karnataka, party president Rajnath Singh had categorically said these were untrue and all the central leaders would travel to Karnataka to address public meetings.

He was also found quoting to the media that, "It's not a question of how many days (on Modi’s stay in Karnataka). I will conduct whirlwind tour to bring back BJP to power in Karnataka.” As they say, “Elections are fought and won based on caste equations, finding the right candidate and moving the right pawns.” Modi has followed the same path and have exceptionally done well in forming that combination, in addition to economic development of Gujarat.

Yet, the point is Modi has turned out to be an exceptional political strategist within Gujarat.

So the big question arises here is, can the above qualities make the Gujarat CM a star campaigner outside the state as well? Especially among people who haven’t benefited from good governance? Instead, should BJP invite Nitish Kumar to campaign in Karnataka? Who knows even this move can act as a game-changer for BJP’s ongoing trouble to pacify JD(U).