Love or hate, Modi's BJP flavour

An outsider to the Delhi power scene until a few months ago, Narendra Modi has announced his arrival on the BJP's scene with a bang. His rivals within the BJP and outside will have to reckon with him whether they love or hate him.

An outsider to the Delhi power scene until a few months ago, Narendra Modi has announced his arrival on the BJP's scene with a bang. His rivals within the BJP and outside will have to reckon with him whether they love or hate him.

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That seemed to be the central message as the party's mega conclave wrapped up with a message to hundreds of party cadres who were looking up to Modi.

If they were desperate for a direction, Modi gave to them in a style that they wanted to hear. So, a thunderous attack on the Congress leadership and an affirmative I-can-do-it- talk were in his order, BJP insiders said.

If Modi sounded acerbic, he intended to show that, among BJP front-rankers, he alone held the power to inflict and provoke the main political opponent to pick up the gauntlet and not any of the "Delhi-based" leaders who were often cosy with the establishment.

At the same time, as BJP leaders noticed, Modi showed he would not be disarmed by the talk of expected delays in a formal decision by the BJP on PM candidate. Modi made it a point to underscore that "the candidate has never mattered in the BJP - we must go forward with our party programmes."