Narendra Modi likely to give up Vadodara

New Delhi: If the BJP comes to power, and Narendra Modi wins in both his seats, it’s more or less certain that he will retain Varanasi and vacate Vadodara. While the election in Varanasi is on May 12, Mr Modi is expected to start camping in this temple city from May 5.

Sources said that the BJP’s PM candidate is set to focus on the North, particularly UP. That he was planning to make Varanasi his political abode became somewhat clear when he said, “I have not come here, Mother Ganga has called me.”

Mr Modi’s possible move to northern India will also aim at consolidating the BJP’s position in this state, which has the largest number of Lok Sabha berths.
Sources said Mr Modi has “big plans” for UP.  Despite providing eight of the 13 Prime Ministers of India, UP is still referred to as a ‘bimaru state.’

Meanwhile, Mr Modi’s close aide, Mr Amit Shah, is also expected to follow his ‘saheb’ to Delhi in the event of the BJP coming to power. However, reports and rumours that Mr Shah could be accommodated in the PMO were refuted by a senior BJP leader.

While Mr Shah is likely to be inducted into the central BJP, he will not be given any position in government till he is cleared in the cases against him.
A former Gujarat bureaucrat, K. Kailashnathan, part of Mr Modi’s team, is also expected to follow him to the PMO, sources said.

Leading the race to replace Mr Modi in Gujarat at this juncture is state revenue minister Anandiben. Sources said that Mr Shah will be brought into the central leadership in Delhi as he would “operate as Modi’s eyes and ears”.

Those who have worked closely with Mr Modi indicated that if he takes over as the PM, then he will also take total control of the party too.

It was pointed out that if Mr Modi becomes PM and follows his Gujarat model of administration, the bureaucracy would “emerge as the most powerful”. It was claimed that the BJP’s PM candidate prefers “working with bureaucrats rather than with politicians.”