New Delhi: The Congress on Thursday ensured the consolidation of non-BJP parties by not projecting its prime ministerial candidate while announcing that Rahul Gandhi would lead the party’s 2014 Lok Sabha election campaign from the front.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi took this decision by telling the extended Congress Working Committee meeting that there is no tradition in the party to declare a PM candidate before the polls.
This is considered a smart move to consolidate the non-BJP parties in the pre- and post-election scenarios and isolate BJP PM candidate Narendra Modi.
The BJP has been keen on converting the general election into a battle between Modi and Gandhi. The BJP, which has no base in south India barring Karnataka, will have to take on the Congress and regional players in key states like UP, Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha, Maharashtra and the Northeast states simultaneously.
Although the Congress’ Generation Next and some loyalists were keen to project Gandhi as their PM candidate, Sonia Gandhi put the record straight on the issue by saying there was no need to do so.
The CWC meeting at the Parliament Annexe, which lasted nearly two hours, saw younger leaders demanding Gandhi be projected as the party’s PM candidate. Addressing those clamouring for Mr Gandhi as PM candidate, Sonia Gandhi made it clear that in the Congress this issue arises only at the time of government formation.
The demand for Rahul Gandhi to be made PM candidate was raised by Ramesh Chennithala, a Congress leader from Kerala and won instant support from a host of leaders, including B.K. Hari Prasad, Gurudas Kamat, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Youth Congress chief Rajiv Satav.
Next: Rahul had no chance in election, says BJP
Rahul had no chance in election: BJP
New Delhi: Alleging that the Congress is avoiding naming its vice-president Rahul Gandhi as its Prime Ministerial candidate as it is aware of an impending defeat in the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP on Thursday claimed naming Rahul Gandhi would have led to comparisons with its PM candidate Narendra Modi against whom the Congress leader “stands no chance”.
BJP chief Rajnath Singh said the Congress decision indicated that they accepted that Mr Modi is going to be the Prime Minister.
Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said the decision of the Congress demonstrated that it had recognised the reality.
“I think it is a recognition of reality since they know they are not going to form the government. Then why the need for announcing a PM candidate. I think any party which takes a decision of this kind weighs the realities.”
BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said: “They know that the Congress is in for a major defeat. That is why the Congress did not want to make the head of the Gandhi family as its prime ministerial candidate,” he said.
Noting that the country is passing through a “crucial phase,” the BJP, on the eve of its three-day national conclave, on Thursday alleged that the Congress, with the help of other parties, is using “all kinds of allegations and propaganda” against it.
The BJP leadership held a meeting to firm up its strategy for its national executive and council meetings, which will finalise its roadmap for the Lok Sabha polls.
The conclave will see the party finalising its programmes — “One Vote, One Note,” “Mission 272+” and “Modi-for-PM Fund” — part of its campaign to reach out to maximum people. To give a boost to its fund collection efforts, the BJP’s 1.3 lakh public functionaries across the country will donate their one-month salary.
The meeting of party office-bearers was preceded by a meeting of general secretaries chaired by party chief Rajnath Singh and attended by the party’s PM candidate Narendra Modi and party veteran L.K. Advani, besides senior party leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley.
