There is talk of who will be BJP PM candidate. Narendra Modi is most popular among BJP members. He has his rivals within BJP. L. K. Advani is prominent among them. He tries to undercut Modi by mentioning names of Sushma Swaraj and Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Advani does not have support of RSS. Support from Vijay Goel and Shatrughan Sinha does not count much. BJP President Rajnath Singh has said Narendra Modi is the most popular leader. That scuttles Advani’s chances.
Narendra Modi does not have support of RSS but he can manage without them. For a man who was blamed for BJP’s defeat in 2009 he has come a long way. Arun Shourie was the first to mention Narendra Modi as the next PM after Advani. That time not many supported Modi as PM. The turnaround came when Tatas shifted their Nano plant from West Bengal to Gujarat. After that Modi was the favourite of industrialists. At the end of 2012 UK lifted its ban on him. EU followed suit. Then three American legislators came to visit him. His international acceptability went up to the chagrin of his opponents in India and abroad. Then he became member of BJP Parliamentary Board.
JD(U), SAD, and Shiv Sena are partners of BJP in NDA. Nitish Kumar is opposed to Modi. JD(U) wants the candidate to be impeccably secular. Perhaps Nitish Kumar has prime ministerial ambitions or some in BJP are propping him up. Shiv Sena says Bal Thackeray wanted Sushma Swaraj to be PM. For Modi it does not matter if JD(U) and Shiv Sena part ways. JD(U) has not much presence outside Bihar. Shiv Sena had supported Congress candidates for President in 2004 and 2009. Modi can get MNS support. Raj Thackeray had met him.
It is difficult to predict election results. If BJP gets 272 seats it will not need an ally.
It seems the up coming 2014 elections has something in store for all political parties.