No problem with Rahul Gandhi as PM, Congress will play main role in 2019, says Tejashwi Yadav

It seems like after the initial reluctance, the regional parties have finally started accepting ‘resurgent’ Congress president Rahul Gandhi as the leader of the anti-BJP front in the upcoming general elections.

If not all, at least former Bihar deputy CM and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav believes that Gandhi is capable of becoming the Prime Minister of India and the Congress will have to play the main role in 2019.

“Rahul Gandhi is capable. He or even Sonia ma’am could have been the PM much earlier. He wanted to gain experience. But the way he is interacting with smaller parties, there is a big difference between what Rahul was then and (what he is) now,” the Hindustan Times quoted Yadav as saying.

The RJD leader and son of former Bihar CM Lalu Yadav also threw up his weight behind Gandhi’s aspirations to become the prime minister of the country.

“His logic is not wrong. Whoever is the largest party — like the BJP in 2014 — has claimed the Prime Minister’s post. If some other party emerges as the largest, they too, can claim it. Where is the problem in making such a claim?” he said.

During the Karnataka Assembly elections, Rahul Gandhi said that if the Congress party got the majority in 2019, he will become the PM.

His remarks were mocked by the ruling BJP which termed the remarks Gandhi’s ignorance towards the senior leaders of the Opposition parties.

Yadav also spoke about the efforts being carried out by the Opposition parties to stitch an anti-BJP front ahead of 2019 elections and said that presence of the Congress party will ensure the success of the “Third Front” in 2019.

“The Congress was not present in the previous Third Fronts. When the Congress came in the alliance, it gave us UPA 1 and UPA 2. The UPA (United Progressive Alliance) ran for a full 10 years. The Congress is the biggest Opposition party. It is the responsibility of the Congress to take others along with them. Wherever the Congress is powerful, we have to strengthen it. In 18 states, the Congress is in a direct fight with the BJP. The main role has to be played by the Congress,” the RJD leader told the English daily.