By IANS,
New Delhi : After Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Arun Shourie, party general secretary Arun Jaitley Saturday said Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was a future prime ministerial candidate after the present aspirant, the octogenarian L.K. Advani.
“Gujarat under the leadership of Modi has emerged as a role model for India and we willbe happy if Modi gets the top job some day,” Jaitley told IANS.
He was reiterating comments he earlier made to TV news channel Headlines Today.
Shourie said in Ahmedabad Friday that the state had the opportunity to pick two prime ministers – L.K. Advani in the 2009 elections and Modi later. He was seconded by party spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad later in the day.
Asked why the party was talking of next prime ministerial candidate after Advani when the 2009 elections are on, Jaitley told IANS: “There is nothing ‘now’ about it. If the media asks a question… I will be happy if Narendrabhai becomes the prime minister some day.
“The problem is more at your end (the media) than our end,” he said with a laugh, and added: “The media asked a question to Arun Shourie and he said that. Now you people say ‘Jaitley backs Shourie’.”