Close on the heels of Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar voicing his support for Narendra Modi as prime ministerial candidate, former Chief Minister Arjun Munda echoed him on Friday.
Advocating declaration of the Gujarat Chief Minister as the party’s campaign chief for the next lok Sabha elections, Munda said, “The country requires a strong and decisive leadership to reverse the trend of economic slowdown which has plagued the nation under the nine years’ rule of the UPA.”
Munda told The Pioneer from Goa that stability is needed for healthy governance and Modi fits the bill. “The remarkable victory for the BJP in Gujarat bypolls has emphasised the fact. It is high time the leadership trusts Modi with the responsibility of leading the campaign in the lok Sabha as well as Assembly elections in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh —and possibly, in Jharkhand too — in November-December,” he pointed out.
The former Chief Minister is in Goa to attend the BJP national executive committee meeting from Saturday. He said no outcome — good or bad — should be expected if the Government does not take any decision on an issue. “Modi stands out in this regard,” he added.
According to sources, BJP State president Ravindra Rai, who attended the extended meeting of the BJP parliamentary board on Friday, also backed Modi.
On the other hand, senior leader Yashwant Sinha had on Thursday expressed a divergent view and told a TV channel, “The BJP national executive is too large a body to discuss leadership issues... The BJP has already made it very clear that these issues will be decided by the parliamentary board.”