Ending all rumors and speculations and defying the hurdles created by veteran leader LK Advani and his camp, the BJP has finally appointed Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi (NaMo) as the Chairman of the party’s Poll Campaign Committee for 2014 battle.

While naming Narendra Modi as the head, party President Rajnath Singh has expressed confidence that the Gujarat CM will lead the party to victory in the next general elections. He made the announcement in presence of senior leaders Sushma Swaraj, Venkiah Naidu, Arun Jaitley, Manohar Parikar, Ananth Kumar, Prakash Javedkar and others.

It is being learnt that LK Advani, who skipped the BJP’s National Executive for the first time in 33 years, had made all efforts to block Narendra Modi’s anointment. But, the RSS cracked the whip and made everyone, including Advani and his sympathisers fall in line.

Earlier, while addressing the National Executive, Modi declared war on the Congress and stressed the need for uprooting the party from power. He termed the “Oust Congress” campaign as a nationalist one, rather than a political one. He also took a jibe at the ‘Bharat Nirman’ campaign launched by the UPA-II government.

While Modi was the real choice of majority of BJP leaders and cadres across the country, it would be interesting to see whether he would get the acceptability of other political parties, including BJP’s allies within the NDA and pacify the group within his own party, who have turned against him. If Modi helps the BJP win over 200 seats in 2014 Lok Sabha polls, it could be difficult for the allies to write him off in the PM’s race.