By IANS,
Allahabad : Comparing Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi with India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Ashok Singhal Wednesday said the public demand that Modi be made prime minister reminded him of Nehru.
“There was demand from the masses in the first general elections to make Nehru prime minister… I see a similar demand for Modi now,” Singhal told reporters in Allahabad.
He, however, said that it was up to the political party (BJP) to decide who would be its prime ministerial candidate in the 2014 polls.
The VHP leader’s statement came even as BJP national president Rajnath Singh was set to attend a meeting of the central advisory committee of the VHP here, amid reports that Modi’s candidature for prime ministership will be discussed at a conclave during the ongoing Maha Kumbh.
Modi is set to visit Allahabad next week, and take a ritual bath in the Ganga Feb 12, during the ongoing Maha Kumbh, which occurs once every 12 years.
Some sects of ascetics oppose the visit of Modi to the Maha Kumbh, saying that the occasion is not a political one, and religious practices should not be politicised. Members of Sant Samaj Swami Adhokshajananda Kumbh said Modi must first apologise for the communal carnage in Gujarat 2002.