31/12/2013
Congress won't gain much even if Rahul Gandhi is declared PM candidate: BJP
New Delhi: Amid growing clamour within the Congress to name party's prime ministerial candidate for the Lok Sabha polls in 2014, the main opposition party, BJP, on Tuesday said that it wont help the ruling party even if it declares Rahul Gandhi as its unanimous choice for the top job.
In a scathing attack on the Congress, senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha said, “If Congress announces Rahul Gandhi as PM candidate there is no possibility that his party will perform better in coming elections under his leadership.”
“Congress will face a lot of problems declaring Rahul Gandhi as PM candidate,” the senior BJP leader said adding, “The Congress-led UPA government is non-functional, only option before nation is for the Election Commission to call for fresh election.”
BJP vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi too endorsed Sinha's views by saying, “PM Manmohan Singh opting out of PM race to make way for Rahul Gandhi won't help Congress.”
The reactions from BJP leaders came in the wake of reports which said that Dr Manmohan Singh, who has supposedly taken a back seat and not likely to contest for the PM's chair paving way for party vice president Rahul Gandhi, will address a press conference on January 3.
The press conference will be Singh’s second such interaction in his second term as the Prime Minister, which began in May 2009 though he has met five editors and a group of television editors once each. He had addressed a press conference in his first term (2004-2009).