PM-candidate-in-waiting? Rahul will take Cong 'responsibility'

One of the several criticisms against the Congress is that the party’s top leaders rarely interact with the press at length and take questions from the media. While leaders like Finance Minister P Chidambaram and telecom minister Kapil Sibal frequently interact with the media, it is no secret that the party’s strings are pulled by the Gandhi family headed by Sonia Gandhi. The Gandhi family, for its part, rations its media interviews quite stringently. Like BJP’s Narendra Modi, Rahul and Sonia Gandhi prefer to talk about issues garnering public interest mostly at political rallies. [caption id=“attachment_1338521” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Rahul Gandhi at a CII meet. AFP.[/caption] However, Rahul Gandhi seems to have made an exception, possibly with the Lok Sabha elections in view, and given an interview to Hindi publication Dainik Bhaskar. Though Gandhi hasn’t said anything we don’t know already, his reiteration that he would be willing to take whatever responsibility the Congress party wants to give him, has given rise to speculation that this is his way of agreeing to a possible Prime Ministerial nomination. From Manmohan Singh to Chidambaram, the tallest leaders of Congress have repeatedly hinted that they would want the baton of the country’s Prime Minister to be handed over to Rahul Gandhi. And from what Gandhi had to say about how he viewed his responsibility and role in the party, it is now becoming clear that he is indeed in the running to become the Congress’ PM candidate. Interestingly, the first question asked by Dainik Bhaskar’s national affairs editor Kalpesh Yagnik was if Gandhi is willing is to take up the responsibility of India’s PM. Gandhi neither objects to the question, nor does he say that the party hasn’t decided on the Prime Ministerial candidate yet. He says, “In the national interest, it is necessary that Congress forms the government at the Centre; and in this direction whatever responsibilities the organisation has given me, I will discharge them with utmost sincerity and honesty.” He added that a BJP government would spell disaster for the country since the party is run autocratically by Narendra Modi. He said a BJP government at the Centre would not just be a government run by Modi, but it will be a Modi-centric government. “The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wants to form a ‘one-man centric’ (Narendra  Modi) government at the Centre which is not good in the national interest. The government should not function according to the whims and fancy of a single person. The future of over 120 crore people can be safeguarded with inclusive politics only,” he says in the interview. However, like his party’s stance has been in the recent days, Rahul went soft on AAP. He said that the party has brought a progressive change in the country’s politics and that is commendable. However, he added that he did not agree with many of its policies meant to yield short term gains. Read the complete Dainik Bhaskar interview here.