MEERUT: Amidst the tussle among UP BJP leaders, local leaders told TOI that home minister Rajnath Singh is emerging as a favorite among the state unit to head the party campaign as its CM candidate in the 2017 assembly elections. Recent reports had claimed that PM Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah had offered the post to Singh, who was reluctant to take up the mantle.According to a BJP leader, the central government was planning a “major internal security operation” in the “near future” and Rajnath Singh would be made to take the credit for the operation to boost his standing ahead of the 2017 polls.While leaders said the selection of a CM candidate was not a topic of discussion at the party’s national executive meeting in Allahabad on Sunday, there were “serious deliberations in the party high command” on whether or not to name Singh as the face of the campaign. The 65-year-old leader had held the post of UP CM from 2000 to 2002. A BJP functionary said Singh would appeal to voters in both eastern and western UP since he has represented both Lucknow and Ghaziabad in the Lok Sabha.“There is a lot of buzz around Rajnath. There are other names doing the rounds, like those of Varun Gandhi and Smriti Irani, but they are political novices compared to the home minister. UP is not a cakewalk and we will need our most experienced leader at the helm and nobody knows UP like Rajnath Singh. He has already governed UP before and that experience will come in handy. The local party leaders and workers will easily rally behind him. If someone so senior is made the CM, it will also quell the egos of leaders like Yogi Adityanath. The senior leadership, including Amit Shah, is enthusiastic about him,” a BJP functionary said.He added, “There is talk among ministers that the central government is planning a major internal security-related military operation in Jammu and Kashmir. Once the operation is successful, they will hail Rajnath Singh as a hero in the media. That will increase his standing among the people as a tough leader. Once that image is seared into the minds of the people, it will be much easier to project him as the CM face by November. The momentum will be with us and we can win UP.”Rajnath Singh had accompanied the Prime Minister during his rally in Saharanpur last month, to mark two years of the Modi government. While Modi presented what amounted to a report card of the past two years, Singh sounded the poll bugle for the state. He said, "For UP, 14 years of 'vanvaas' (exile) are over. Now is the BJP's time."