Rahul has all the qualities to become a good PM: Tejashwi
NEW DELHI: Congress president Rahul Gandhi has all the qualities to make a good prime minister, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav said on Sunday, alleging that the Bharatiya Janata Party’s propaganda machinery spent hundreds of thousands of crores to malign Congress leader’s image.
However, he also emphasised that the issue of who will be the prime minister can be settled after the 2019 polls collectively by members of the grand alliance.
Asserting that there was never a question mark over Gandhi’s leadership, the RJD leader in an interview to PTI said, “Even after such a long negative campaign against him, he [Gandhi] has won the hearts of the people through his perseverance, kindness and large-heartedness.”
The Congress’s victory in the three major states of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh under Gandhi’s leadership has infused a sense of confidence and energy in the party, and in the minds of 69% electorate who had not voted for Narendra Modi in 2014, Yadav said.
Asked if Gandhi has all the qualities to make a good prime minister, the former Bihar deputy chief minister said: “Yes! He has all the qualities, he is the national president of India’s oldest party and been in Parliament for the last 15 years. Don’t forget his party has five chief ministers in the country and he is leading them. So, no question should be asked on [Gandhi’s] leadership and qualities.”
Last month, MK Stalin, president of DMK, one of the big allies of the Congress in Tamil Nadu, for the first time had publicly proposed that the united Opposition must field the Congress chief as its prime ministerial candidate to defeat the Modi government. Stalin was criticised, but he stuck to his views.
However, Yadav, when asked if Gandhi was the obvious choice to lead a pan-india alliance, said India is a democracy in which people choose their representatives and they in turn choose the leader who becomes the prime minister. “Democracy is always people-centric, it is not personoriented. We do not want a dictatorship form of government. Presently, the BJP is suffering from idol worship. We don’t want that culture,” said the 29-year-old son of former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad.