BJP on Modi: 'We cannot ignore party workers' expectations'

In the clearest indication yet about Narendra Modi's elevation, Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday said that the party "cannot ignore the expectations of the workers" and a decision would be announced shortly. 

The party also sent out a message to alliance partner Janata Dal-United, which has objections to projection of Modi as BJP's Prime Ministerial face, saying the party does not need any certificate from anyone about who is secular and who is not.

BJP spokesman Syed Shahnawaz Hussain said the Gujarat Chief Minister is as "secular" as any other leader in the party and asserted that parties will ally with the party when it reaches close to power.

"People have expectations, we cannot ignore those expectations. Workers (of BJP) have expectations, we cannot ignore those expectations," Hussain told a press conference in Panaji while briefing media persons on the deliberations at BJP's National Executive meet.

To a question about JD-U’s opposition to Modi, he said, "We do not need certificate from anybody about who is secular and who is not... In BJP, all are secular and nobody is communal...How can one be secular (in BJP) and another not be secular?"