New DelhiA day after External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said that Congress heir-apparent Rahul Gandhi would follow in the footsteps of his father who became the Prime Minister at 40, the Congress said that Rahul had all the qualifications to lead the country but it was for him to decide when to take on a leadership role.
Speaking to reporters at the party’s official Press briefing here on Friday, Congress spokesman Shakeel Ahmed said, “It is correct that Rahul Gandhi has all the qualifications that are required in a person to lead a country.
Everyone feels that way. But it is for him to decide on it (when to take on the leadership mantle).”
He was replying to a volley of questions on the implications of Pranab’s statement on Thursday in Chennai.
While on one hand, Ahmed said that it is for Rahul to decide, on the other, he said that the party stood by what Congress president Sonia Gandhi had earlier said.
Asked whether there was a “war” in the party to declare the Amethi MP as the future PM, Ahmed said, “There is no war. What Congress President Sonia Gandhi has said, the party stands by that.”
On Independence Day last year at a function in Congress headquarters, Sonia had scotched speculation on the issue, saying, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will unfurl the national flag at the Red Fort if the party was voted back to power.
Though accepting that Rahul has attracted the younger generation to the party and has the capability, the party spokesman said, “But this does not mean that you (media) misinterpret it and create a dispute.”
Claiming that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has done so well on every front in the last four-and-a-half years, he said, “It (leadership issue) should not be projected in a way as if people are unhappy with the Prime Minister.”
Describing Sonia Gandhi as the guardian of the party, he said, “She has already spoken on the issue on August 15 last year. It remains the stand of the Congress.”
