New Delhi:
At a massive rally in Uttar Pradesh today, BJP leader Varun Gandhi strongly hinted that the party should pick its president, Rajnath Singh, as its prime ministerial nominee. Mr Singh, 61, was present when Mr Gandhi paid him the richest tribute possible within the BJP - he compared him to former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.
"I see a reflection of Atal -ji in him, "Mr Gandhi, who is 33, said. "He is the only person who can unify the people of this country."
That remark will turn the crank on a point of raging dispute within the BJP - whether its president should be the presumptive prime minister rather than Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi who has been offering his credentials for the country's top job in a series of recent speeches. However, for many, including crucial ally Nitish Kumar, Mr Modi is tainted by the communal riots of 2002 in his home state in which hundreds of Muslims were killed on his watch.
Though the BJP president has repeatedly said that Mr Modi is the party's most popular leader, it is no secret that several senior leaders within the BJP consider themselves contenders for the prime ministerial nomination.
Today's rally was Mr Gandhi's first major public appearance after he was made General Secretary of the BJP by Mr Singh. His promotion came after a court ruled in March that he is not guilty of delivering hate speeches during his campaign in the last national election when he won the parliamentary seat of Pilibhit.
He is expected to shift base for the next election to Sultanpur in the Eastern part of the state, the constituency of his father, Sanjay Gandhi, who died in a plane crash in 1980.
The relocation will bring him next door to Amethi and Rae Bareli, represented in Parliament by his estranged older cousin Rahul and his aunt, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.