Will sit with allies to sort out all issues, says Rajnath

Even as Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi is being widely perceived as the BJP's frontrunner candidate for prime minister, party president Rajnath Singh said Modi had never asked him to bring him (Modi) in the forefront.

Even as Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi is being widely perceived as the BJP's frontrunner candidate for prime minister, party president Rajnath Singh said Modi had never asked him to bring him (Modi) in the forefront.

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"It's a reality that Modi is a popular leader... but till date he has never told me that make me (Modi) the prime ministerial candidate. When the controversy over the issue started he told me that all this war of words is unnecessary," Singh said in an interaction with reporters at Indian Women Press Corps.

At a time when BJP-JD(U) ties are at an all-time low over the Modi issue, Singh also announced that the BJP did not want any of its allies to leave the NDA.

"This crisis is unfortunate. We would never want any ally to leave. There can be issue-based differences. We will sort it out."

BJP prepares for polls
Patna: BJP president Rajnath Singh is scheduled to meet top Bihar leaders in Delhi on Thursday to discuss the possibility of Lok Sabha polls in November.

The meeting, said Bihar BJP chief Mangal Pandey, was critical for this reason than the party's ongoing public spat with Nitish Kumar's JD(U).

The party's assessment of the poll timing is interesting as its ally JD(U) has given it an ultimatum to name its PM candi-date by December. HTC