PM- Sonia a model for future: Cong

NEW DELHI: The Congress said on Tuesday that the power-sharing arrangement between party president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was a model that could continue, the strongest sign yet that Rahul Gandhi’s candidature for the premiership is not a foregone conclusion.

“The relationship that exists between the Congress president and the Prime Minister today is unique and something which has never been seen before and perhaps this should be the ideal model for future also,” Congress general secretary Janardan Dwivedi told reporters.

The 42-year- old Rahul was pitchforked into the limelight in January when he was named party vice-president and deputy to his mother Sonia, and jubilant Congressmen were quick to anoint him as a PM-in-waiting.

But the Gandhi scion often appears to be a reluctant politician despite coming from a fam- ily that has given the nation three prime ministers, and created a flutter when he was heard telling some of his partymen in parliament that becoming PM was not a priority.

CONTINUED ON P9