This Article is From Mar 06, 2012

Uttar Pradesh election result: Did missing Narendra Modi hurt BJP's chances in UP?

Uttar Pradesh election result: Did missing Narendra Modi hurt BJP's chances in UP?
Lucknow: As the BJP comes to terms with the fact that it has not made huge gains in Uttar Pradesh, the party says it will introspect to figure out why it failed to leverage the state's spurning of Mayawati.

Senior leader Sushma Swaraj was asked on NDTV if the party regrets the absence of one of its stars, Narendra Modi, from the campaign in UP. Mr Modi skipped the state because old-time rival Sanjay Joshi was asked to manage the UP campaign. Ms Swaraj told NDTV that "sometimes, dua mein zyaada dum hota hai" (good wishes can be very potent).  She agreed with party colleague Ravi Shankar Prasad who told NDTV that the party will assess in the next few days what impact Mr Modi had on the party's performance. Refuting reports of a sulk by the Gujarat Chief Minister, Mr Prasad said that Mr Modi was busy with his "sadbhavana" tour - a state-wide series of fasts that Mr Modi has dedicated to "communal harmony."  

Mr Modi may be able to take perverse pleasure from his party's lacklustre showing in UP. The last major campaign he did not participate in was in Bihar, where Nitish Kumar is in power with the BJP. Worried about Mr Modi alienating Muslim voters, Mr Kumar had banned Mr Modi from the alliance's pitch for re-election in 2010. A huge victory followed for the BJP and Mr Kumar - the former showed bigger gains than the latter's JDU. Mr Modi's critics said the results showed that he had not been missed, and that his appeal among voters outside his home state is over-rated.

BJP President Nitin Gadkari has said that Mr Modi is among a group of five or six contenders for the party's prime ministerial candidates in the next general elections, scheduled for 2014. Mr Prasad told NDTV today that there is no front-runner at this point. "At least we have a group of six candidates," he said, striking out at the Congress. "Who is their candidate? Manmohan Singh or Rahul Gandhi?"

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