AHMEDABAD: The BJP can do without Narendra Modi . That’s the message coming loud and clear after the results of elections to five state assemblies were announced on Tuesday evening.Modi can sulk further, if he so wishes. The Gujarat CM didn’t campaign in any of the five states which went to polls. Yet, the party has come back to power in Punjab and Goa and given itself a fair chance in Uttarakhand. Fine, it didn’t do well in UP. But then, it relegated the Congress to fourth place and that’s what matters.It’s anybody’s guess what would have been the result if Modi had been the star campaigner in UP and other states. The feeling in the party is that of satisfaction that it gave a good account of itself without surrendering to Modi’s sulk. The results, according to BJP insiders, have once again underlined that he is not really needed outside Gujarat.If Nitish Kumar proved it in Bihar last year, Modi couldn’t prove any point with his abstention in latest slugfest. If the idea was ‘sadbhavana’, he hasn’t won any goodwill within the party by playing truant. If at all, his conduct has only reinforced the view that he keeps his personal ambition, rather than the party’s interest, at the forefront. BJP insiders say the CM had been monitoring the developments in the poll-bound states very closely despite his supposed pre-occupation in Gujarat. His absence from the party’s last national executive meeting wasn’t taken kindly and his ego only complicated things further.Modi can hardly take satisfaction in the fact that Rahul Gandhi's prime ministerial posturing would be shaken after he was forced to bite the dust in UP. At least, the young Gandhi gave a fight. Whereas Modi has been relegated to the status of persona non-grata in Bihar by an ally and as someone the BJP can do without in the country’s most populous state of UP.This leaves Modi as a suspect in the leadership race that is going to erupt prior to the 2014 general elections. Unfortunately for him, while he remains popular among the masses, there aren't any leaders left in his support structure.