Rahul Gandhi to take up larger role: Digvijay

 Singh, who had at the party plenary here in December last, had pleaded that Rahul should build his own team, however, does not want to go into when the young leader will play that role saying “that you will see”.

“Of course, he (Rahul Gandhi) will take a larger role,” was his response when he was asked whether he sees the possibility of  Gandhi taking bigger responsibilities in the near future amid projections that he would be the future Prime Minister.

Asked whether he feels that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has become jaded in UPA II with a series of scams dogging the government, Singh replied in the negative saying “he was as vigorous in UPA II as he was in UPA I.”

Singh also rejected contentions of any disconnect between the prime minister and the party. “It was not there then and it is not there now,” he said in response to a question on whether the prime minister and the party are not on the same page on many issues, including the Lokpal issue.

Singh, who is in charge of party affairs for Uttar Pradesh, ruled out any alliance in the Assembly elections next year in the state where the BSP is its “main adversary.”
While the BSP is the “principal adversary,” the Samajwadi Party is also an adversary there and any sort of alliance with Mulayam Singh’s party was impractical as the vote banks of the two parties do not get transferred to each other. He also made it clear that not withstanding the disaster in the Bihar Assembly elections last year, the Congress will stick to its “go-it-alone” policy in Uttar Pradesh, propounded by young leader Rahul Gandhi. Some tie-up with smaller parties at local levels can happen.

The Congress leader ruled out his return to the state politics saying “there is no question of it. I had been the chief minister of the state twice...now new people should come.”He also downplayed his sharing the dais with former Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh recently at Farrukhabad saying he had gone there to lay a foundation stone at the invitation of a friend and had no idea that Amar Singh was also invited.