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Congress okay with any non-RSS person as PM

Last Updated 24 July 2018, 17:22 IST

Days after Rahul Gandhi's projection as the next prime ministerial face created discomfort in Opposition ranks, the Congress on Tuesday indicated that it was ready to accept any person not backed by the RSS in the top executive post.

Top Congress sources said that Rahul was even comfortable with seeing BSP supremo Mayawati or West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as the next prime minister.

On Sunday, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) had projected Rahul Gandhi as its face for the Lok Sabha elections and authorised him to take a final call on striking up pre- and post-poll alliances.

The Congress is exploring state-specific alliances as against a national coalition to defeat Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Lok Sabha elections next year.

Congress sources said it was a given that the party will enter into an alliance with regional parties in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, which will be the key to Opposition's march to power.

Uttar Pradesh has 80 Lok Sabha seats, Bihar has 40 and the two together comprise over 22. Former finance minister P Chidambaram, in a presentation to the CWC, had flagged 12 states where the Congress can win about 150 seats on its own and an additional 150 could be added by its alliance partners.

UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and BSP supremo Mayawati had bonded well at the swearing-in ceremony of Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy in Bengaluru in May.

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(Published 24 July 2018, 16:31 IST)

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