Congress V-P picks party over PM's post

Amid clamour in the Congress for projecting him as the party’s prime ministerial candidate, Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday sought to express his lack of interest in the top post, saying strengthening the organisation was his priority.

 “Asking me whether you want to be the prime minister is a wrong question,” the Congress vice-president was understood to have told his party MPs during an interaction with them here at Parliament complex.

Gandhi made it clear that the prime minister’s post was not his priority, as he was busy making efforts to strengthen the party, an assertion that he has made before his party leaders and workers on various occasions.

The party, however, continued to hope that Gandhi would change his mind. “I am sure that one day, Rahul Gandhi will become the prime minister,” party spokesperson Rashid Alvi said, reiterating that party workers wanted to see Gandhi as the next prime minister.  
Gandhi has been seeking to distance himself from the clamour within the party for projecting him as the party’s prime ministerial candidate in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. He even expressed displeasure over such suggestions, made by some partymen in the recent past.

At a recent meeting of the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chiefs and the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leaders, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna came in the firing line as he suggested that Gandhi should soon be declared the prime ministerial candidate.

Rahul had immediately snubbed Bahuguna and said the meeting was not meant to discuss who should be the prime ministerial candidate, reminding the leaders that they should rather concentrate on the work they were assigned.

“Our prime minister is doing well. Why are the people criticising our own government?  I am the vice-president of the party and currently focused on strengthening the organisation. I do not want to hear such a thing again,” Gandhi apparently told the PCC chiefs and CLP leaders.