NEW DELHI: India’s Bharatiya Janata Party elevated Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to its apex strategy team on Sunday to win next year’s general elections, but internal squabbles and resistance from allies could hamper his bid to become the opposition’s prime ministerial candidate.

The 62-year-old Modi is the only serving chief minister to be included in the Parliamentary Board by BJP President Rajnath Singh, who announced his new 76-member team ahead of the elections due by May next year.

Mr Modi comes back to the party’s top body after a gap of six years after having been removed from the board by Mr Singh during his previous tenure as party president, ending speculation over the chief minister’s future role at the national level in BJP. Mr Modi is seen as a representative of the big business in the party who has used his divisive anti-Muslim appeal to win a fourth consecutive term for the BJP in Gujarat.

The party also assigned a more visible role to Varun Gandhi, a fire-breathing Muslim-baiter and estranged first cousin of Rahul Gandhi, the Congress party’s popular choice to be Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s successor.

Mr Modi, who has been projected by a section within the BJP as the party’s prime ministerial candidate, has also been included in BJP’s Central Election Committee.

Mr Rajnath’s new team has 12 vice-presidents, 10 general secretaries, 15 secretaries and seven spokespersons, besides a 12-member Central Parliamentary Board, a 19-member Central Election Committee and a five-member Central Disciplinary Committee.

Among the new faces in the BJP team are former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Uma Bharti and Mr Modi’s confidant Amit Shah who have been made vice-president and general secretary respectively.

Party’s senior leader Yashwant Sinha has not found a place in Mr Rajnath Singh’s team. Among those who have been dropped are Najma Heptulla, Hema Malini and Shanta Kumar as vice-presidents and Vasundhara Raje as general secretary.

TV star Smriti Irani, who is a Rajya Sabha MP from Gujarat and considered close to Mr Modi, has also been promoted as vice-president.