Updated on Monday, April 27, 2009, 00:00 IST

Mumbai, April 27: The BJP on Monday said there is "no division" in the party over the issue of Narendra Modi "as Prime Minister material" but the strategy for 2014 polls will be decided later, a day after the Gujarat Chief Minister himself downplayed the talk of his being the PM candidate in the next polls.

"We are now discussing 2009 polls and L K Advani as Prime Minister. The party's strategy for 2014 will be decided later. There is no division in the party over the issues of Narendra Modi as Prime Minister material," BJP Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu told reporters here, when asked about a section of BJP rooting for Narendra Modi as future Prime Ministerial candidate.

58-year-old Modi had yesterday downplayed the talk of his succeeding Advani saying, "Advaniji will be our prime ministerial candidate even in 2014 elections."

BJP leader Arun Shourie had indicated that Modi could be BJP's prime ministerial candidate in future, a view that was endorsed by senior leader Arun Jaitley and Naidu himself.

However, they made it clear that Advani will be the party's prime ministerial candidate for the current poll.

Referring to Shourie's comment, Naidu said, Shourie was "asked a question and it was not his statement".

Asked whether Modi could succeed Advani as the PM candidate, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, meanwhile, said as far as his knowledge the issue "was not at all being debated in the party.”

The only issue at present is to make senior BJP Leader L K Advani as the Prime Minister of the country," the BJP leader said in Bhopal.

"Narendra Modi has made his state a model state in the country and was successful in establishing himself as the best Chief Minister in the country. But how long this experiment will go in the country cannot be said now," Singh told reporters when asked if Modi had qualities of a prime minister.

Bureau Report