Modi set for a bigger role in BJP, likely to lead 2014 LS poll campaign

New Delhi: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is set to play a national level role within the Bharatiya Janata Party. This comes after Modi met BJP President Rajnath Singh on Sunday in Delhi to discuss the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Sources have told CNN-IBN that the Gujarat Chief Minister could be made the chairman of the BJP campaign committee soon and that Rajnath Singh is comfortable with the idea.

As a first step, sources say that Modi will be reinstated as a member of the Parliamentary board of the party, which is the BJP's highest decision making body. Rajnath Singh is likely to discuss Modi's road map with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat in Nagpur on Tuesday.

Modi, who met Rajnath Singh in the national capital on Sunday, discussed 2014 Lok Sabha elections "in detail" with the newly-elected BJP President. Modi was visiting Delhi to congratulate Rajnath for taking over as the BJP chief. After the two-hour long meeting ended between the two leaders, both Rajnath and Modi confirmed that they had a detailed discussion on party's strategy for the next general elections.

"We discussed about Gujarat and how the BJP could help improve the state. We also discussed in detail about the 2014 elections," Modi told media after the meeting. Rajnath also confirmed about the discussion and said: "We had a detailed discussion on Gujarat's development and 2014 elections."

Since Modi took over as the Gujarat Chief Minister for the third time in a row in 2012, speculations have been rife that he might be the BJP's prime ministerial candidate for 2014. While many party leaders have always stayed tight-lipped on the issue, few have at various occasions expressed their wish of seeing Modi play a larger role in the next elections.

After he swept the Gujarat assembly polls, an elated Smriti Irani said that her vote for the prime minister's post would go to Modi. Even party leader Sushma Swaraj during a rally in Gujarat, said that Modi was fit to be a prime minister.

Even the day when Rajnath took over as the BJP President, he said that Modi is a popular leader in the party and he was likely to play a key role in 2014 elections. Modi, however, has repeatedly tried to downplay the issue insisting that Gujarat was his prime focus.

The meeting between Modi and Rajnath came days after Rajnath was elected unopposed as the BJP chief and Nitin Gadkari dramatically withdrew his nomination for the party's top post.

(With additional information from PTI)

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