India's Hindu nationalist opposition Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday named controversial and polarizing leader Narendra Modi to head its campaign for the 2014 national elections, signaling that the pro-business politician may be the party's preferred candidate to lead the country if it wins.
The appointment of Modi, who is the chief minister of the western state of Gujarat, is widely viewed by political observers not only as an acknowledgment of his rising popularity among upwardly mobile, urban middle-class Indians, but also as a reminder of the BJP's reliance on leaders who boost its core Hindu ideology.
"The BJP takes the 2014 elections as a challenge that we have resolved to win," Rajnath Singh, president of the party, said Sunday in the city of Panaji, in western Goa state. "The entire party has faith in Modi."