Workers wearing Modi masks celebrate outside the BJP headquarters in New Delhi.
has landed at Delhi airport and is headed into town in his SUV. This evening, he is expected to be named the BJP's candidate for prime minister in 2014.
A meeting of the BJP's top 12 leaders called to make the Modi announcement, was shifted by half an hour to 5.30 pm as party chief
Rajnath Singh visited LK Advani to make a last effort at winning the veteran's support.
Mr Singh has already called up ally Shiv Sena this afternoon and informed it that Mr Modi will be nominated.
The BJP headquarters in Delhi has been prepped for post-announcement celebrations. (
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The 85-year-old Mr Advani is now the last man standing in opposition to the Modi-for-PM announcement. Other dissenters like Sushma Swaraj and Murli Manohar Joshi have reportedly agreed to put up a united front at today's parliamentary party board meeting and back a majority decision, though, sources said, they could record their reservation.
There may be differences of opinion, but we are united," said Mr Joshi, confirming he will attend the meeting.
Mr Singh's dash to Mr Advani's residence only a few hours before the meeting was aimed at preventing the embarrassment of his voting against the proposal to name Mr Modi presumptive PM. Other senior leaders too have tried to convince him, but he remains adamant.
Mr Advani has reportedly told the BJP president that announcing Mr Modi as its choice for PM will plunge the BJP into "political disaster". (
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Mr Modi's detractors say the party should first test his appeal in the assembly elections in five states in November. But the BJP's ideological mentor, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS, believes that Mr Modi's surging popularity among party workers could extend to voters.
The fissures within the BJP's big hitters are allowing opponents to point out that Mr Modi polarizes not just voters but his own party.
He is accused of being a divisive figure who deters minority voters because he failed to prevent the riots in Gujarat in 2002, in which hundreds of Muslims were killed on his watch.