New Delhi: Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram has described the five year rule of the Narendra Modi government as a “complete disaster”, saying the BJP will not be able to form the next government and UPA-III could be a reality.
The former Union minister also said the BJP’s “campaign of polarisation” is a complete failure in southern and western states and the impact it will have in northern and eastern India remains to be seen.
“We are absolutely confident that the BJP will not be able to form the government again. The government will be a non-BJP government. Obviously, the UPA that is Congress plus pre-election allies will play a big part. If there are more post election allies, I think UPA-III has a very good chance,” he told PTI in an interview.
Chidambaram added that the BJP’s “campaign of polarisation” has been a complete failure in Southern India along with Gujarat, Goa and Maharashtra.
“What impact it will have in central Indian states where Hindi is spoken— Rajasthan, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand— remains to be seen. They again tried in (West) Bengal, they have not succeeded so far. They tried in Odisha, they have not succeeded. They are trying in Assam. “Let us see what the results will be. BJP’s polarisation campaign is a failure in the majority of states in India,” he said.
Asked about the possibility of Congress chief Rahul Gandhi becoming the prime minister, Chidambaram said the Gandhi scion has made it clear that the party is not going to talk about the post of PM at this stage.
“He (Rahul) has said more than once that all the opposition will gather in Delhi after the election results and decide whether we are in a position to form a government and if we are in a position to form the government, who should be the Prime Minister. It is a statesman like position,” he said.
Asked whether there will be many claimants from the opposition for the PM’s post, the former home minister said nobody was claiming the post of the Prime Minister.
“I have not heard anyone claiming the post of PM. Every party leader is entitled to say ‘if my party wins, my party can provide the PM candidate’. What is wrong with that?”
“Ultimately the numbers will decide who will be the PM. It is not the God given right of Mr Modi alone to say that he can be the Prime Minister and nobody else can be the Prime Minister,” he said. (PTI)
