Narendra Modi Likely To Be Announced Bjp Election Chief On Sunday

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Goa: Despite dissent from a faction of its senior leaders, the BJP is likely to anoint Narendra Modi the head of an election committee on Sunday, the final day of the party's Goa conclave.

The promotion of the controversial chief minister of Gujarat was listed yesterday as an imperative to party president Rajnath Singh by the BJP's ideological mentor, the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh or RSS, according to sources.

The diaspora within the party against Mr Modi is headed by LK Advani, who called in sick today to skip an important session of the 12 office-bearers of BJP. Others who are affiliated to Mr Advani and have said they are too unwell to travel to Goa include Jaswant Singh, Uma Bharti, and Shatrugan Sinha.

BJP rebuffs Advani, likely to make big Modi announcement in Goa

BJP chief Rajnath Singh said that Mr Advani's no-show today is not an expression of protest, and that he will arrive in Goa tomorrow. (Track live updates)

Mr Modi's detractors fear that his elevation as chief of the party's election committee is just one step away from him being declared the BJP's prime ministerial candidate - a position some of them believe they deserve.

But Mr Modi's timing has been impeccable. In December, he was re-elected in Gujarat for a fourth successive term as parties entered the launch phase of their planning for the national election.

This week, as his critics tried to check his ascension, he delivered six new seats in Gujarat by-elections, wresting them from the opposition.

That punctured the attempts by Mr Advani to counter the chief minister. The party turned down a pitch by him to create two election committees to separately handle state and national elections. Mr Modi could head one of them, Mr Advani had proposed, in an attempt to signal that the chief minister is among a ring of senior leaders, rather than the party's top man.