Choosing Modi was a winning decision: Jaitley

The BJP leader said most of his partymen feel the next general election "besides being an anti-incumbency election is also a leadership referendum and here Narendra Modi does give us an edge. HT reports.

Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitely on Sunday described Narendra Modi’s elevation as BJP’s prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls as a “winning decision” taken by the party. He also expressed confidence that senior BJP leader LK Advani would “eventually support” the move.

He told Karan Thapar in CNN-IBN’s Devil’s Advocate programme that the decision to annoint Modi as the party’s face was taken by “an overwhelming majority in the party” keeping in view “larger interests.”

Jaitely said: “There can be two alternative views available in a party. But the party has to factor in larger public interests. The collective wisdom of not only a majority but an overwhelming majority, the groundswell was that we take decision. We weighed all possible options. We weighed the opinion of our supporting constituency and cadres.”

Asked if the BJP would drop Modi if it did not get adequate seats in 2014 polls, Jaitley said he would not discuss any hypothetical situation. “At the moment, my strategy, my party’s strategy is that we win maximum number of seats.”