We view Rahul Gandhi as future PM: Digvijay

Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh welcomed Priyanka Gandhi's statement on Rahul Gandhi being qualified to become prime minister, saying the party viewed him as a "future PM".

"We all have been viewing the future PM in him though we do not speculate when that is going to happen", said AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh.

Yesterday, Priyanka while campaigning for Rahul in Amethi had said "I have full faith in my brother... He is, according to me, qualified.... So, one day he will. He will do a good job of it." when asked whether she thought her brother was qualified enough to hold the top post.

He also rebutted the BJP's charge of Manmohan Singh being a "weak" Prime Minister accusing the previous NDA government of being remote-controlled by the RSS.

"The BJP has been trying to create an impression that the UPA government is being controlled by AICC president Sonia Gandhi by calling Manmohan Singh a weak Prime Minister. In fact, it was during the NDA regime that the government was being remote-controlled by the RSS", Singh told reporters here yesterday.

Singh said that BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate L K Advani "was himself eased out of the party president's post, under pressure from the RSS just because of his charitable remarks about Mohammad Ali Jinnah".

Asked how will the erstwhile Congress allies like Mulayam, Lalu and Paswan moving out of the UPA fold impact it, Singh, pointed out "they have all publicly endorsed Manmohan Singh as the prime ministerial candidate".

"Our alliance broke apart prior to the elections just because they did not take the Congress into confidence while deciding how many seats they were planning to fight", he said.

About the Third Front, he said "it is a formation with ideological contradictions and will not last long. Such experiments have taken place in the past and do not deserve to be taken seriously".

On Narendra Modi's "budhiya" and "gudiya" remarks about the Congress, he said, "being the Chief Minister of a state he (Modi) should conduct himself with dignity. It is very unfortunate to see a person holding a high office using such coarse language".

Meanwhile, he alleged a "clandestine agreement" between the ruling BSP and the BJP over the Varun Gandhi issue.

"Undoubtedly, what Varun said deserved to be condemned. But why did the BSP government look the other way while he along with his supporters held Pilibhit to ransom prior to his surrender drama despite an arrest warrant already issued against him," Singh accused.

"It appears that BSP is having a clandestine agreement with the BJP and is helping the saffron party into making a hero out of its misguided young leader," he said.