No Modi wave in the country, says Murli Manohar Joshi

In subtle comments aimed at its Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi on Sunday 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.

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

"Modi is a representative of the party as a PM candidate...so it is not a highly personalised thing (the wave). It is a representative wave. He gets support from different parts of the country, from sections of the society and from all leaders of the BJP," he told "Manorma News" in controversial remarks that could ruffle feathers within the party.

Joshi also raised eyebrows on the Jaswant Singh issue, when he said the decision to deny the party ticket to its expelled senior leader was not taken at the Central Election Committee, of which he is a member but by the party president and Rajasthan Chief Minister.

"It was not as behind the back decision," he said. When asked for his reaction, senior party leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said he would react only after going through Joshi's comments.

Talking about the development model that BJP-led NDA wished to pursue if it came to power, Joshi said he did not favour a "straijacket" model of one particular state, but would like to take the good points of development from various states.

"It is now the developmental model of the country as presented by BJP. In a country like India, what developmental model is true for Jammu and Kashmir or Arunachal Pradesh, may not be true for Kerala.

"So to say that this model or that model -- no. So some good points may be there, some good points from the government of Tripura will also be there, it is not some straitjacket model," he added.