NEW DELHI: Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray set the cat among the pigeons as he pitched for BJP leader Sushma Swaraj as a “great choice” for the prime minister's post. There is only one person who is intelligent and brilliant — Sushma Swaraj...,” Thackeray told Sena mouthpiece Saamana on Sunday when asked about possible BJP candidate for the top post. The BJP was cautious in its reaction but its NDA partner Janata Dal (United) said the prime ministerial candidate would be decided by all the alliance partners, not just the Shiv Sena. This is the first time that an NDA constituent has come out in support of a candidate. A few weeks ago, another ally, the JD (U), had done the opposite. Senior party leader and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar virtually vetoed his Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi’s candidature, indicating “anybody but him”. Thackeray’s comments are likely to be seen as another snub for Modi. “She (Swaraj) would be a great choice for PM’s post. She is a deserving, intelligent woman… I think she will make a dashing prime minister,” Thackeray said in Part 3 of a marathon interview that appeared on Sunday. The endorsement comes a few days after the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha paid the Sena chief a “courtesy visit” at his Mumbai home. “BJP has many leaders who are competent to become the prime minister… a decision will be taken by the BJP and other NDA partners at the time of elections,” party vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said. The alliance would together pick the candidate, NDA convener and JD (U) leader Sharad Yadav said. the Congress said the NDA was “counting chickens before they hatch”. “The NDA suffers from a unique malady of anointing prime ministers without waiting for people’s verdict,” spokesperson Manish Tewari said. Sena chief was again critical of LK Advani’s claim that a non-UPA and non-NDA government was a distinct possibility in 2014. “What can we expect from persons like him? Wonder why he said such a thing...,” he said of the BJP veteran’s
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