Narendra Modi's name been finalised as BJP's PM candidate?

New Delhi, Oct 8: Bharatiya Janata Party (

) may not have openly declared its Prime Ministerial candidate for the 2014 general elections. But most of the statements coming out from the BJP top brass indicated that Gujarat Chief Minister

has strong support among the party members and is likely to be NDA's Prime Ministerial candidate, although several senior leaders of BJP including LK Advani, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and Rajnath Singh featured in the list of PM candidate.

On Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi being BJP's choice as the PM candidate, party president Nitin Gadkari said, "He was one of the front runner".

"There are many leaders who are capable to become a PM from Advani to Arun to Sushma, Rajnath Singh, Joshi, Narendra Modi, they all are capable for the PM post, they all are people's leaders and the group of all capable leaders is the think tank for the party, and we will decide appropriate time who will be our candidate," he said in an interview with television channel CNN-IBN on Sunday, Oct 7.

Analysts say that BJP is waiting for the outcome of Gujarat Assembly elections 2012. Gujarat will have a two-phase assembly election on Dec 13 and 17.

BJP is hoping that Modi will make his comeback as Gujarat's Chief Minister for third consecutive time.

The Gujarat outcome is widely tipped to have an impact on the political future of Modi and the BJP with the next Lok Sabha election due in 2014.

His supporters say that Modi, who was appointed Chief Minister in 2001, would be a strong contender for the party's prime ministerial candidate if he leads the BJP to power for a third time in a row. A defeat will be a setback for both BJP and Modi, puncturing his claims for national leadership.

OneIndia News