Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said he would become the Prime Minister of the country if his party emerged as the single largest party after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
He said this in reply to a question during an interaction with prominent personalities in Bengaluru as part of the launch of Samruddhi Bharat conference in Bengaluru.
Asked if he would be the next prime minister, the Gandhi scion said, “Well, it depends…it depends on how well the Congress does in the election…I mean if it emerges as the biggest party, yes.”
According to the media reports, Rahul Gandhi’s revelation about his PM aspiration seems to have left the party’s alliance miffed.
Former Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi reportedly said Gandhi had made this announcement without consensus.
Earlier, Gandhi also said he was “pretty confident” that Narendra Modi would not be the next prime minister.
“If the Congress acts as a ‘platform’ (with other parties in a coalition), the BJP does not stand a chance of winning the elections,” he said at a function where he launched the “Samruddha Bharat Foundation”.
“The BJP will not get more than five seats in UP alone. The recent bypolls in UP has already exhibited the strength of collective opposition,” he said.
“It is highly unlikely that BJP will form the next government, and the second part is that it is close to impossible that Modi will be the next prime minister,” Gandhi added.
He said the opposition unity would not allow the BJP to remain in power. Gandhi asserted that the Congress would win the Assembly polls in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.
(With agency inputs)