Will Modi be BJP's Prime Ministerial Candidate?

In comparison, there is no one of stature in the BJP. Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is politically dead. The veteran L.K. Advani does not seem to command the aura that he did earlier.

Modi is reported to have asked for a post in the parliamentary board of the BJP and is said to be eyeing a key position in the national leadership.

But Modi's path to prime ministerial hopeful won't be easy. The biggest stumbling block is the 2002 Gujarat communal violence, an event that has forced the U.S. to deny diplomatic visa.

Even the Time magazine caption noted: "Modi means business but can he lead India."

And while Modi is on excellent terms with his AIADMK leader and his Tamil Nadu counterpart J. Jayalalithaa, not every chief minister, including those who are BJP allies, are enamoured of him.

This is why, says Nisar Ul Haq of the political science department at the Jamia Millia Islamia here, that Modi does not have a chance to grow nationally.

He said within the party there was resentment against Modi -- in Gujarat and elsewhere -- and the ghost of 2002 will haunt him.

"I don't think there is any question of him becoming the prime ministerial candidate. He (Modi) doesn't have national appeal. The ghost of Godhra will never go away," Haq told IANS.

In any case, the Lok Sabha ballot is two years away. "Things can change drastically. Winds can blow in Congress favour," he added.

But Narasimha Rao feels the old guard in the party will fall in line.The Congress is keeping away from the Modi story vis-a-vis 2014.

"It is an internal matter of BJP. But the people of the country will decide who is secular and who is not," Congress spokesman Rashid Alvi told IANS