On the last day of Bharatiya Janata Party's national executive meeting in Allahabad, Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised senior party Kalraj Mishra and called him a great friend.
"Kalraj Mishra is my old friend. He is the first national leader in the party and in the Jansangh who I met," said Modi.
The Prime Minister's remark has sparked speculation over whether the party is planning to project an upper caste face as its chief ministerial candidate ahead of the Uttar Pradesh elections in 2017.
Speculation has been rife over who will be the BJP chief ministerial candidate for the crucial polls. However, the BJP has stated that the parliamentary board will take the call on the chief ministerial candidate closer to the assembly elections in the first half of 2017.
Both the timing and selection will be determined by how the state politics unravels in the days ahead, party leaders said.
BJP President Amit Shah had also claimed that the party is yet to decide whether a chief ministerial candidate should be projected or not.
"We have declared faces in some states and we have not declared faces at times. We need to decide whether we need to announce a CM face, when we have been successful in both formats," BJP national general secretary Arun Singh had said.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh, the last BJP chief minister in Uttar Pradesh, is also being seen as a "natural" face by many due to his experience.
Singh in the past has said he was not keen on returning to state politics. What is though almost certain he will play a prominent role during the campaign.
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