Rahul as PM wish of TN people, says Stalin

CHENNAI: Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) chief MK Stalin, who had proposed the name of Congress president Rahul Gandhi for the next prime minister at a party rally in Chennai last month, on Sunday defended not doing so at the mega opposition rally called by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata on Saturday.

“Yes I had proposed Rahul Gandhi’s name, in Chennai’s DMK rally, as the next PM. It is very funny that when I said this, media asked me why you said this but yesterday when I did not say this the same media is saying that why you did not say this?” he told media persons.

Explaining his reasons, he said that he had pitched for Gandhi in Chennai as “it is the wish and aspiration of the people in Tamil Nadu”. “But in West Bengal, they (the opposition leaders) have decided to finalise this after the election...” he added.

Stalin’s call for Gandhi as the prime minister after the 2019 polls as he has the “ability to defeat the fascist BJP” came at a rally in Chennai on December 16 last year as senior opposition leaders gathered for the unveiling of a statue of late DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi at the party office.

However, at the United India rally, he had not touched on the issue of the leadership proposed anti-BJP alliance and like other leaders, pitched for removing PM Modi in the Lok Sabha elections.