Vajpayee has a change of heart on Modi

"That has become an issue of the past. Look at the new year and the coming Assembly elections and we have to face them," he told reporters when asked whether he still favoured Modi's removal.

To another question that he and party President M Venkaiah Naidu were speaking differently on the issue of Gujarat, Vajpayee said "we say only one thing."

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Asked about Naidu's statement that the party had won in several states despite the Gujarat violence, he said "when we talk of victory, we are talking of states like Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan where we won 23 out of 25 seats. In Gujarat also, we have won most of the seats but the performance could have been better."

Vajpayee's remarks assume significance in the context of the furore created in the Sangh Parivar by his statements in the last one week that Gujarat violence was one of the reasons for BJP's electoral debacle and he was personally in favour of removing Modi in the wake of post-Godhra violence.