New Delhi: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said that he was prepared to take up the post of prime minister if the party wins the Lok Sabha election and MPs choose him for the post.
Gandhi told Headlines Today news channel in an interview that newly elected MPs of the party had the right to choose the prime minister.
“If MPs chose me, I will not back out,” he said.
Gandhi is leading the Congress campaign for the Lok Sabha elections but has not been projected as the prime ministerial candidate by the party.
Gandhi also rubbished opinion polls that have predicted victory for the BJP-led NDA in the Lok Sabha polls.
“The BJP is good in marketing, but at the end, results count. They did good marketing in 2004, but you saw the results,” Gandhi said in the interview.
Replying to a question on why the Congress was lagging behind the BJP in the election campaign, Gandhi said the Congress’ base rested in the poor, and the voice of the poor is generally sidelined.
“Our thinking is to give more and more rights to the poor. We want to give them a support system. Development is necessary but we have to also prepare human resources. That human resource will come from the poor,” he said.
Gandhi pointed out that development in Gujarat, where BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi is chief minister, was not inclusive.
“The textile industry in Gujarat got closed. There is malnutrition. The farmers are dying of hunger,” he said. (IANS)