Modi, party not separate, no infighting: BJP on Joshi's remarks

Lucknow/Amethi, Apr 14:

on Monday sought to downplay

's remarks that there was no Modi wave in the country but only a BJP wave, saying the party and

cannot be viewed separately and rejected suggestions of any

.

BJP chief Rajnath Singh said that Joshi's statement was wrongly interpreted. "No one has said anything like that. BJP has presented Modi as its Prime Minister candidate and in such a situation BJP wave or Modi wave cannot be viewed separately," Rajnath told reporters in Lucknow.

"Modi is the most popular leader of the country and the people want to see him as PM," he said, adding, "We cannot see Modi and BJP separately. We all are part of BJP".

The BJP national president said that the decision to declare Modi as the PM candidate was taken by the central parliamentary board. He stressed that BJP was a cadre based party.

In subtle comments aimed at Modi, Joshi had yesterday said there was no Modi wave in the country but only a BJP wave. Joshi, who headed the BJP manifesto committee, also suggested that the Gujarat model of development touted by Modi cannot be made applicable for all states, observing he did not favour a "straitjacket" model of one particular state.

But Rajnath today said that even Modi had not said so. In Amethi, party vice president Smriti Irani denied that the remarks reflected the differences between the leaders.

"There is no infighting in the party at all," she said, adding that "the way Dr Joshi gives blessings is different from others".

Joshi, who had to make way for Modi for the Varanasi Parliamentary seat, said their PM candidate was just a "representative" of the party for the top post and was getting support from across the country and BJP leaders.

PTI