Allies to be consulted on BJP's candidate for PM

Patna, May 8:

will consult with allies in the

before deciding on its prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 general elections.

"Whenever the BJP takes a call on its prime ministerial candidate, it will do so after taking into account the sentiments of the allies in the NDA," Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi said today.

"The BJP has not taken a decision on its prospective prime ministerial candidate as yet," he clarified when reporters asked him about senior party leader and Health Minister Ashwani Chaube pitching for Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's candidature.

The prime ministerial candidate of the BJP was not an issue at all at present, he stressed.

On Chaube's public statement supporting the Gujarat CM's candidature, Modi remarked that everyone has the right to freedom of expression in a democracy and nobody could be prevented from airing his or her personal views.

It was not for the state unit of BJP or an individual leader to decide the party's prime ministerial candidate, he added.

PTI