NEW DELHI: Speculation is rife that a reshuffle of the leadership may become necessary for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), should it fall short of seats by a few dozen, but the BJP president Rajnath Singh, himself named as one of the back-up candidates if Narendra Modi becomes unacceptable to potential allies, insisted on Thursday that his party would get an absolute majority.

The BJP president dismissed questions on whether he could emerge as a consensus candidate for NDA allies in a post-poll scenario.

While claiming that the BJP-led NDA is moving towards a clear majority with more than 300 seats in the Lok Sabha polls, BJP president Rajnath Singh clarified on Thursday that Narendra Modi would remain their prime ministerial candidate even in a post-poll scenario.

Mr Singh dismissed questions on whether he could emerge as a consensus candidate for NDA allies in a post poll scenario. “In any circumstances, only Mr Modi will be our prime minister. We have projected him as our PM candidate so only he has the moral authority to occupy the post,” he said at a press conference in the city.

Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Thursday claimed that several BJP leaders have “contacted” him to prevent Narendra Modi from becoming the prime minister.

Addressing an election rally in Etawah, Mr Yadav, a major leader from Utar Pradesh, claimed that Mr Modi would never become the prime minister “as several top BJP leaders were not in his favour”.

The Samajwadi Party supremo claimed that several BJP leaders have “contacted” him to say that only he could prevent Modi from becoming the prime minister.

“I want to assure those BJP leaders that we will prevent Modi from being the PM,” he said.