Kochi: The pitch for Rahul Gandhi as the next prime minister grew louder on Saturday with former union minister S Jaipal Reddy asserting his party president would be the Congress’ prime ministerial candidate for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Reddy, however, made it clear the Congress does not want to make the leadership issue a pre-condition for formation of the UPA before the polls. “Our prime ministerial candidate is our president Rahul Gandhi. Naturally other parties will take their time to accept this. There is no hurry. We are not making the leadership issue a pre-condition for formation of UPA before the polls,” Reddy told a press conference here.
Recalling the post-poll situation in 2004 when Sonia Gandhi was projected as the prime ministerial candidate of the Congress party, Reddy said then Sonia herself had said the prime ministerial candidate of the UPA will be decided after the election. So whether alliance partners agree on the Congress party’s candidate will be discussed after the polls, he said.
Asked whether Rahul Gandhi will suggest someone else’s name from the Congress for the prime Minister’s post as Sonia suggested Manmohan Singh in 2004, if UPA is voted to power next year, Reddy said Sonia was dictated by her circumstances which was not the case with Rahul. “Rahul is our supreme leader. He is our prime ministerial candidate. But that doesn’t mean we won’t talk to parties who are opposed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi if they don’t agree with our candidate,” the senior Congress leader said.
His statement comes days after the Congress played down the opposition by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Left parties to DMK’s “Rahul Gandhi for Prime Minister” call.
The Congress had said they (other potential UPA partners) had only described the timing as inappropriate and accused the media of twisting the whole issue. (PTI)
