BJP treads cautiously on US praise for Modi

Treading cautiously after a US Congress report praised Narendra Modi, BJP today skirted the issue of whether the Gujarat chief minister was its Prime Ministerial candidate and just described him as an "able CM".

Treading cautiously after a US Congress report praised Narendra Modi, BJP on Wednesday skirted the issue of whether the Gujarat chief minister was its Prime Ministerial candidate and just described him as an "able CM".

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Buoyed by the US Congressional report showering praise over Modi, BJP hoped his detractors within the country and abroad would come out of their denial mode and get in sync with the times and come to terms with reality.

"The report of the US Congressional Research Service, a thinktank which provides support to the US Congress on a variety of topics, has stated that Narendra Modi has streamlined economic growth in Gujarat, has removed red-tape in the functioning of the Government, has curtailed corruption and has given special emphasis on infrastructure in Gujarat," BJP spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudy told reporters.

"Many people in this country, including our friends in the Congress, as well as abroad have been consistently in a denial mode on the functioning of Narendra Modi. In last two days, we have heard two things that possibly shall prove otherwise -the Supreme Court direction in favour of Modi two days ago and the report of US Congressional Research Service prasing him on governance."

When asked if Modi was now a strong contender for being the party's Prime Ministerial candidate with the US Congress giving him a certificate on governance, Rudy skirted the issue saying that though there is no dearth of leaders in BJP to lead the nation, it was not yet time to announce the party's prime ministerial candidate.

"The BJP president and the party have made it very clear that as of now there is no question of declaring anyone as a prime ministerial candidate, even though BJP has enough leaders to lead the nation," the BJP leader said, adding that "Modi is an able chief minister".