New Delhi, April 9 (IANS): Ram Madhav, President, India Foundation, and RSS National Executive member, literally had the last word at the release of noted TV personality Priya Sehgal's book, 'The Contenders: Who Will Lead India Tomorrow?', in the heart of Lutyens' Delhi on Tuesday.

"You are stuck in your family and caste politics, but the BJP has moved far ahead," he said, talking about the organisational force that the ruling party brings to the elections. "Out of the one million polling booths in the country, the BJP has workers posted at 8,50,000 of them."

And after dismissing the idea of having 'The Contenders' because "the (Prime Minister's) seat is not going to become vacant for many years", Ram Madhav said the victories of right-wing parties across the world has shown that the era has arrived of democracies with "one dominant idea and one dominant leader."

He was countering his co-panelist, former diplomat and Rajya Sabha MP and popular author Pawan Varma's criticism of the BJP for having given up Atal Bihari Vajpayee's collegial style of functioning for an organisation that is entirely centred around Prime Minister Narendra Modi's persona and politics.

Ram Madhav also pointed out that if certain people had no problem with the Congress ruling the country for 27 years (from 1950 to 1977) at a stretch, they should also be prepared to give the BJP an opportunity to stay in power at the Centre for 27 years.

Opening the discussion, leading Supreme Court advocate and ex-Rajya Sabha MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that out of 'The Contenders' profiled by Sehgal in her book, four stood out to him as having the potential of becoming the country's Prime Minister in the near future. They are:

* The "much misunderstood" Rahul Gandhi for his "alternative vision" and his "persistence and stamina";

* UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who has "age on his side" and a mass following, but his "Rambo image" and "non-inclusive politics" can be "a double-edged sword";

* Delhi's incarcerated Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal ("and not because I have to defend him in court"), who is a "24x7 politician" and "a great communicator with the ability to simplify even the most complex ideas for common people", and who also has the ability for "old-fashioned street politics"; and

* Priyanka Gandhi, who Singhvi said was "a natural leader with special abilities", prompting Ram Madhav to point out that she had not ever been tested in electoral politics and that the two names he mentioned from the Congress are both from the party's "ruling family".

Responding to Singhvi's praise for Kejriwal, and his assertion that the BJP has "a sense of apprehension" about him, Ram Madhav said that the chief minister had been "overrated by the media" by default because "Rahul Gandhi is not working out".

He added that AAP had no base beyond Delhi and Punjab, and wherever else it had contested elections, it had fared poorly.

Being a seasoned diplomat, Varma tried hard to balance the two opposite views. On one hand, Varma attacked the BJP's "laundry factory" and pointed out that 33 per cent of the party's Lok Sabha candidates, as per their own declarations to the Election Commission, have serious criminal cases of cheating, dacoity and attempt to murder pending against them. They seem, however, to be immune from inquiries and investigations, he said.

But Varma, in his opening statement, was emphatic in pointing out that politics today needed "a different approach, a different tenacity and a different kind of sacrifice", which only PM Modi seemed to have.

"The BJP has a remarkably strong mascot in Mr Modi, who has a strong style of messaging," Varma said, adding that those on 'The Contenders' list "have talent and potential but they are more entitled than they deserve to be".

And the Congress, he added, is a "great idea" but it "beggars the imagination" as to who is there to carry it forward.