|
| Cong leadership firm on Manmohan as PM choice |
| BS Reporter / New Delhi Apr 03, 2009, 01:35 IST |
|
After officially declaring Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as its prime ministerial candidate for the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress leadership today went a step ahead and ruled out any negotiation on this post. Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, while acknowledging that the Congress may need the support of other parties to form the next government, made it clear that others would have to “work out” arrangements to accept Manmohan Singh in the top post.
“We have already declared Manmohan Singh as our next prime ministerial candidate. This is a fact. Everybody has to work out an arrangement keeping this fact in mind,” Chidambaram said at a press conference in the party’s headquarters. The assertion assumes significance, as some of the Congress allies like Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar have already floated their prime ministerial ambitions. Pawar will be jointly campaigning with the CPI(M), CPI and Biju Janata Dal — all anti-Congress forces — in Orissa for both Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in that state. While Pawar is seen to be actively pursuing his dream of becoming the PM, other allies like LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan too publicly expressed his prime ministerial aspirations.
Chidamabaram’s message today was equally important for the Left parties as well. Privately, both the Congress and the Left believe that in the post-poll situation, they may again have to join hands to keep the “communal” Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) out of power. Chidambaram’s statement is seen in the Congress quarters as a pre-emptive strike to make the Left fall in line.
Debabrata Biswas, leader of the Forward Bloc, a constituent of the Left Front, brushed off Chidambaram’s move. “To make a government, they first have to get 272 MPs. Where will they come from? People of India will give a befitting reply to Chidambaram’s economic policy in the upcoming elections. We will form the government with non-Congress, non-BJP forces.”
Chidambaram also claimed that no other party has the programme and policies to bring India back on the growth rate of 9 per cent. “When we talked about growth, others used to ridicule our party. Now, when the growth rate has dipped slightly, others are saying what happened to the growth,” he quipped. In his exuberance, Chidambaram perhaps forgot that not only other political parties, but even a large section of his own party had argued that the benefits of the growth have not gone down to the aam aadmi.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Read Business news in |  |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Advertisements |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Content Guide
