NEW DELHI: The Congress will not declare Rahul Gandhi as its Prime Ministerial candidate in the Lok Sabha elections, senior party leader Digvijay Singh hinted on Friday while dismissing suggestions that BJP's projection of Narendra Modi is a challenge to it.
He also did not say whether Prime Minister Manmohan Singh could be a candidate for the top post once again if the party wins next year's elections.
"We do not have a presidential form of government. Congress party does not declare PM or CM candidates before elections...Even in the Karnataka Assembly elections, we had not declared any CM candidate," Singh told PTI in an interview.
He was replying to questions why Congress was diffident about projecting Rahul Gandhi, why it should not project him and who is the PM candidate of Congress.
Singh also gave indications that the Congress was not averse to doing business with the Left after the next elections and apprehended that the advent of Modi could lead to communal polarisation in the polls.
The fact remains that RJD chief Lalu Prasad was supporting the Congress President and the Congress even before 2004, he said.
To a query about the poll-plank of Congress for 2014 Lok Sabha elections, he said, "Our campaign theme will be on the basis of the work done in the last ten years and the work we will be doing in the next five years."
"UPA-II has managed to give a sustained growth even in the worst economic crisis the world is facing. UPA pumped more money in lot of development schemes that led to high spending in rural areas," Singh said.
He also rejected suggestions that UPA II's image suffered a jolt and cited Congress victories in assembly elections in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka, the states it wrested from the BJP.
"If the image is so badly hit, why the votes of Congress increased in every election post 2009 except in Goa and Bihar.
"While the Congress has added more than 100 seats in the earlier tally in the Assembly elections, BJP has lost not only states like Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka, but also lost more than 90 seats since the last Lok Sabha election," Singh said.
Asked about UPA allies DMK and TMC deserting the alliance, he said that in a coalition whether be it UPA or NDA, there have been instances of allies, which had been initially supporting the government, leaving the coalition and there is nothing new in that.
Source: EconomicTimes
He also did not say whether Prime Minister Manmohan Singh could be a candidate for the top post once again if the party wins next year's elections.
"We do not have a presidential form of government. Congress party does not declare PM or CM candidates before elections...Even in the Karnataka Assembly elections, we had not declared any CM candidate," Singh told PTI in an interview.
He was replying to questions why Congress was diffident about projecting Rahul Gandhi, why it should not project him and who is the PM candidate of Congress.
Singh also gave indications that the Congress was not averse to doing business with the Left after the next elections and apprehended that the advent of Modi could lead to communal polarisation in the polls.
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Asked about BJP's elevation of Modi as its election campaign chief, just a step short of announcing him the prime ministerial candidate, Singh said, "We are not concerned. It is not an issue with us. BJP is free to take any decision. We are in the politics of ideology and not personality...Congress party does not believe in the politics of polarisation." Asked as to whether RJD was its natural ally in Bihar, Singh said it was for the Antony Committee to decide. |
The fact remains that RJD chief Lalu Prasad was supporting the Congress President and the Congress even before 2004, he said.
To a query about the poll-plank of Congress for 2014 Lok Sabha elections, he said, "Our campaign theme will be on the basis of the work done in the last ten years and the work we will be doing in the next five years."
"UPA-II has managed to give a sustained growth even in the worst economic crisis the world is facing. UPA pumped more money in lot of development schemes that led to high spending in rural areas," Singh said.
He also rejected suggestions that UPA II's image suffered a jolt and cited Congress victories in assembly elections in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka, the states it wrested from the BJP.
"If the image is so badly hit, why the votes of Congress increased in every election post 2009 except in Goa and Bihar.
"While the Congress has added more than 100 seats in the earlier tally in the Assembly elections, BJP has lost not only states like Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka, but also lost more than 90 seats since the last Lok Sabha election," Singh said.
Asked about UPA allies DMK and TMC deserting the alliance, he said that in a coalition whether be it UPA or NDA, there have been instances of allies, which had been initially supporting the government, leaving the coalition and there is nothing new in that.
Source: EconomicTimes
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