Rahul Gandhi won't be projected as PM candidate: Chidambaram
Senior Congress leader and former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram, in an interview, said the party won't project Rahul Gandhi as PM candidate for 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Chidambaram said the primary goal was to form an alliance and the PM candidate will be named after elections. This comes weeks after the Congress President said he would become PM if allies supported him.
For Congress, the main goal is defeating BJP
Speaking to News18 Tamil, Chidambaram said the idea is to defeat BJP in 2019 with the help of regional parties. According to Chidambaram, regional parties have grown in the last 20 years and have managed to dent the vote share of both Congress and BJP. Futher, he accused BJP of retorting to 'threatening politics' so that regional parties don't join Congress's hands.
Chidambaram admits road to grand alliance isn't easy
Chidambaram accepted the impending difficulties before the grand alliance is stitched but said, "The situation would change once the government is reduced to a caretaker one, and we form a formidable alliance at the state level".
On RaGa becoming PM, Chidambaram said Congress never said so
Further, Chidambaram spoke about RaGa becoming the PM and said Congress never said he would be the prime ministerial candidate. "When few Congressmen were talking about it, the AICC intervened and stopped such talk," Chidambaram added. He added they want to see a progressive government which 'respects freedom of individuals, doesn't indulge in tax terrorism, protects women and children, and uplifts farmers'.
Recently, RaGa said he was open to becoming PM
Notably, at the HT leadership summit, RaGa said he was open to becoming the PM should the coalition partners support him. "The decision on prime minister is a two-stage process. Stage one is defeating the BJP. Stage two, after the election, we will decide on who will become Prime Minister," RaGa said, hinting it all depends on the support of allies.
