With senior BJP leader L.K. Advani's comments on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi sparking a controversy, party President Rajnath Singh Monday claimed there had been a misinterpretation. Mr. Advani's statement was misinterpreted," Rajnath Singh told reporters here, when asked about the comparison the senior BJP leader made between Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan and Narendra Modi. Rajnath Singh also denied reports of a "cold war" in the BJP over the choice of prime ministerial candidate. "There is no cold war in BJP. Whatever decision I have to take, I will take after calling a meeting of the central parliamentary board,"

Narendra Modi, Advani said, had done well in Gujarat, but Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Chouhan's accomplishment was much greater since he virtually wiped out poverty in his state. Advani also said that Chouhan's "lack of arrogance" has shades of the party's iconic leader Atal Behari Vajpayee.

Advani is seen as among those within the BJP who are opposed to Modi winning the prime ministerial nomination, not least because other senior leaders believe they are more deserving candidates.Earlier this year, Advani unsuccessfully lobbied for Chouhan to be inducted into the party's influential parliamentary board. Modi made it instead.Though his popularity was reaffirmed by an emphatic victory in the Gujarat elections in December, the third in a row, Modi remains a divisive figure on account of the riots in his state in 2002, in which more than 1,000 people were killed.