New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Gadkari Thursday said Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was one of the party’s contenders for prime minister.

On a day when the special investigation team (SIT) probing the 2002 Gujarat riots filed a report on the carnage, Gadkari in an interview to CNN-IBN TV news channel also said the party would decide on its prime ministerial candidate later.

“Already I have cleared it that the BJP has got a lot of potential leadership who are capable of becoming the prime minister. Now, Modi is also one of the leaders… he has also got the potential for that,” Gadkari said.

“There are five to six leaders, and at the right time the party will decide who will be the prime ministerial candidate for 2014,” he said.

Asked about Modi missing from the Uttar Pradesh poll campaign, Gadkari said it was for the Gujarat chief minister to answer and not him.

“First of all, from the national party we have already made a request to Narendraji that he should give some time to Uttar Pradesh and other states for elections. Now, he has to find out the dates for that. The matter is with him, he has to decide about it,” he said.