Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Friday termed as baseless the reports that he had reservations about Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi being projected as BJP's prime ministerial candidate.
"Reports in certain sections of the media about my objection to Modi being declared as PM candidate are baseless and misleading," Chouhan said on micro-blogging site Twitter.
There has been a lot of speculation about Chouhan opposing Modi and this talk gained ground after BJP veteran lK Advani praised the MP Chief Minister and put him in the same league as his Gujarat counterpart, at a party function in Gwalior this year.
Also, State BJP vice president Prabhat Jha ruffled feathers when he said last month, "Chouhan is good enough for the BJP to win the upcoming Madhya Pradesh polls and Narendra Modi is not needed here."
The speculation also gained ground when pictures of the Gujarat strongman were not seen anywhere near Chouhan's Jan Aashirwad Yatra in the beginning. However, Modi's pictures appeared a few days later on the Yatra routes.
Earlier, since Friday morning, it was reported in a section of news channels that Chouhan had conveyed to the BJP high command that his Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi should not be projected as the party's prime ministerial candidate before the Assembly polls.
The Chief Minister is reported to have conveyed the message to party president Rajnath Singh and senior party leader lK Advani last week. The report came even as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) top brass is set to meet top BJP leaders next week to discuss Modi's elevation.
The news created ripples in political circles and by the afternoon, the Chief Minister was forced to clarify his position on twitter.