India, Aug. 6 -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday while acknowledging union minister Amit Shah as the country's longest serving home minister, said this was just "the beginning" for him, setting off speculation in the Bharatiya Janata Party that the endorsement was not just appreciation but an indication of a bigger role for the 60-year-old lawmaker from Gujarat.

Addressing MPs at the NDA parliamentary party meeting, Modi referred to Shah and said he had surpassed the tenure of LK Advani who was previously the longest-serving home minister. "Yeh to abhi shuruwat hai.abhi aur aage jaana hai (This is just the beginning. he has a long way to go)," a person privy to the meeting quoted the PM as saying.

While Advani served as home min...