BJP not to project PM/CMs before elections

Who will be projected as the Bhartiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate in the next Lok Sabha elections? Nobody.

The decision comes from BJP President Nitin Gadkari, so as to shut down the tussle going on between Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley that spilled into open with Sushma hitting out Jaitley without naming him for spreading canards against her.

Gadkari made the decision known in a dinner meeting with the party's senior leaders at Lucknow immediately after conclusion of a two-day national executive meeting there, the party sources disclosed on Wednesday.

They said Gadkari cited how the BJP had to cut sorry picture by going to polls with veteran Lal Krishna Advani and said it does not want to repeat such a mistake. If the BJP and allies get the majority, the party MPs will elect the prime minister after the elections, he decreed.

For that matter, he said the BJP will, henceforth, not project even a chief ministerial candidate. Let the elected representatives exercise the democratic right to elect the leader, he added.