Only popularity not enough for PM candidate: Uma Bharati
New Delhi, Jan 30 : BJP leader Uma Bharati has said that popularity cannot be the sole benchmark for the selection a person as a prime ministerial candidate.
Speaking to NDTV, Bharati shot down fellow party leader Yashwant Sinha's take that Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi should be the NDA's PM candidate because he was popular.
Bharati said there were many leaders who were not as popular as Modi but could be good prime ministers.
Yashwant Sinha had said: "Wherever I go, I find people and party workers strongly demanding that Narendra Modi should be projected as the party's prime minister candidate."
"If the BJP declares him as the prime minister candidate, then the party will hugely benefit in the elections. It is also going to have a huge impact on voters. I have no doubt on this," he said.
After Sinha, another outspoken BJP leader Ram Jethmalani supported the idea despite differing views of NDA allies.
Jethmalani said: "I believe that he (Modi) is impeccably secular. He is better than all those who according to me are known aspirants for the job (of PM)."