Rahul is No 1 candidate for PM: Kumaraswamy
NEWDELHI: Karnataka chief minister and Janata Dal (Secular) leader HD Kumaraswamy said Rahul Gandhi is the number one contender for the Prime Minister’s post in 2019 , and that the JD(S) would stand by the Congress president in the first unequivocal statement of support from a party that hasn’t always seemed comfortable with its larger alliance partner in the state.
Kumaraswamy added that the Opposition must come together and project a common leader to fight the ruling NDA in the Lok Sabha polls next year.
Still, while endorsing Gandhi’s candidature, Kumaraswamy had a word of caution for his own predecessor as Karnataka CM, Congress leader Siddaramaiah, advising him to share his opinions in private with the CM, rather than through the media.
His comments, in an interview to the Hindustan Times, come at a time when the JD(S) is reported to be having differences with the Congress in Karnataka, and other regional leaders are positioning themselves for the primary slot in an opposition front to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“Congress is the major partner in the opposition alliance. So naturally, according to me, Rahul-ji is the number one contender for the PM’s post...We are supporting and will stand by Rahul-ji.”
In response to a question on whether he would like other opposition parties to support the Congress too, he said his “personal opinion” is that “we must come together before the elections and have a leader to fight against the government”. “We have to tell the country, we are here and we will provide a stable government,” he added.
Kumaraswamy dispelled notions that his father and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda harboured prime ministerial ambitions.
Kumaraswamy’s comments come after he lost his composure
HE CALLED ON ALL OPPOSITION PARTIES TO COME TOGETHER, SET APART THEIR PERSONAL ISSUES IN THE INTEREST OF THE COUNTRY, AND SAID THIS IS THE ONLY WAY TO DEFEAT THE BJP.
over the weekend and likened his party’s partnership with the Congress to drinking poison, but the CM said he teared up not because of pressure from the Congress but because he is an “emotional man” and was speaking to his “family of party workers” at a time when sections of media and society “are consistently working against my government.”
He did seem to suggest that there were ways the relationship between the two partners could be improved. Siddaramaiah, as chairman of the co-ordination committee, could advise him directly, instead of writing letters to the government and then releasing them to the media. But he expressed confidence that the coalition government in the state would last its full five-year term. The partners, he added, would contest the upcoming parliamentary polls together and were confident of winning a “minimum of 20-25 seats.” Karnataka has 28 seats in the Lok Sabha.
Rebutting Union minister Arun Jaitley’s blog post (following the Karnataka CM’s breakdown over the weekend) on how only a strong BJP-led government could ensure continuity in the development story of India, Kumaraswamy said that actually it was coalition governments at the Centre which had done a “marvellous job”.
He called on all opposition parties to come together, set apart their personal issues in the interest of the country, and said this is the only way to defeat the BJP.