Declaring PM nominee before 2019 polls may hurt opposition's unity: CPI

The CPI is not in favour of projecting a prime ministerial candidate of the proposed anti-BJP front before the Lok Sabha polls, a top leader said on Monday, arguing that too many contenders might hurt electoral prospects.

On Sunday, DMK president M K Stalin proposed the name of Congress president Rahul Gandhi as the prime ministerial candidate of such a grouping.

"If somebody proposes, we can't do anything. We are not opposed to it," Communist Party of India general secretary Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy told PTI.

"We think...who should be prime minister...that should be discussed in post-election period instead of now...," he said when asked for his response on Stalin's remark.

He said Stalin might have made the proposal as Gandhi is the president of the biggest opposition party.

"Different people have got different type of ideas. Our party has said this earlier also... this should be decided in the post-election period," Reddy said.

The party's opinion, Reddy added, is that it is more convenient if the PM is decided after the elections.

Too many aspirants for the post should not create problems for the unity of the anti-BJP) parties, he said.

Stalin made a strong pitch for the Congress chief as the PM candidate of the opposition for the 2019 polls, saying the Gandhi scion had the ability to defeat the "fascist" Narendra Modi government.