RSS leaders meet, discuss arguments for and against 'Modi for PM'

New Delhi: Top RSS leaders met in Delhi on Saturday to finalise their agenda for the meeting with Bharatiya Janata Party leaders on Sunday. Sources say they discussed arguments put forth both in favour and against anointing Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as Prime Ministerial candidate before the Assembly polls.

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, as well as senior leaders Suresh Soni, Bhaiyyaji Joshi, Krishna Gopal, Manmohan Vaidya and Madan Das Devi are attended the meeting.

Sources say senior BJP leaders LK Advani and Sushma Swaraj have already made clear to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat their opposition to Modi's elevation ahead of assembly polls. Sources told CNN-IBN that Advani and Sushma, who met the RSS chief to discuss Modi's anointment, also conveyed that the party wants to consult Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan before naming him as party's prime ministerial candidate.

On Thursday, Modi had told a group of students in Gandhinagar he doesn't dream of being the Prime Minister. During a Teachers' Day function, the Gujarat Chief Minister had said that his priority is the people of his state who have elected him till 2017.

The party is still in a quandary on naming Modi. Parrikar, was on Friday, forced to clarify his remarks on the anointment of the Gujarat Chief Minister as the Bharatiya Janata Party's Prime Ministerial candidate. Claiming that he has been misquoted, Parrikar said that he completely backs Modi as the PM candidate. "Media quoted me irresponsibly, picking up words they wanted to. We strongly support Modi and he is a good administrator. I strongly advocated for Modi in that interview. It's manipulation," Parrikar said.

Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also reacted to reports that he asked the BJP top brass to delay Modi's elevation. "In the BJP, the party is supreme and it will decide and declare the PM candidate at the right moment. Any speculation in this regard is avoidable. Reports in certain sections of media around my objection to Shri Narendra Modi being declared as PM candidate are baseless and misleading," Chouhan replied in tweet.