Contending that the ideology of Narendra Modi was that of the party and not his own, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani on Thursday showered praise on the Gujarat Chief Minister, saying he had great potential.
"We have many potential leaders, but I have little doubt that very few of the others have proved their ability in the matter of governance and development as Narendra Modi has already proved," Advani told CNN-IBN. "So he (Modi) has great potential."
To a question about Modi's ideology, the BJP's prime ministerial face, who has been fully backing Modi after the bloody 2002 post-Godhra riots, said the Gujarat Chief Minister "does not have personal ideology of his own. The ideology is that of the BJP or I can even say of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and that ideology is the one which many of us share, including myself."
On whether Vajpayee will contest the next Lok Sabha elections, Advani said, "I would be happy if that happens. But as I have seen him even today, this morning, that may be difficult."
Advani was referring to his meeting with Vajpayee, when he drove to the residence of the ailing former Prime Minister to hand over a copy of his book.
"We have never been rivals. I have always respected Vajpayee as my leader ever since I came in contact with him. And he also has always trusted me as a colleague," he said.
In a separate interview to Times Now, Advani regretted that there was no communication between him and Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
"It is unfortunate. And I wish this thing changes. I don't see any one in the party who can contribute to such a change. And if that doesn't change, my relations even with the Prime Minister becomes somewhat strained," he said.
He said he had sent invitations to almost all Congress leaders, including Gandhi, for the book release function but he only received a reply from Defence Minister A K Antony.
Asked when he expected the next Lok Sabha elections to happen, Advani said, "As things stand today, I think the possibility is 2009."
He identified good governance, development and security as his party's election issues while price rise would be the most important issue from the point of view of the common man.
On premature elections, he said, "I have been of the view that we should follow the model of European democracies, their legislatures have a fixed term. I wish that kind of change takes place someday and both Assembly and Lok Sabha elections are held together as they were in the first four general elections."