Cong will not declare Rahul as PM candidate: Digvijay

The Congress will not declare Rahul Gandhi as its Prime Ministerial candidate in the Lok Sabha elections, senior party leader Digvijay Singh hinted today while dismissing suggestions that BJP's projection of Narendra Modi is a challenge to it.

He also did not say whether Prime Minister Manmohan Singh could be a candidate for the top post once again if the party wins next year's elections.

'We do not have a presidential form of government. Congress party does not declare PM or CM candidates before elections...Even in the Karnataka Assembly elections, we had not declared any CM candidate,' Singh told PTI in an interview.

He was replying to questions why Congress was diffident about projecting Rahul Gandhi, why it should not project him and who is the PM candidate of Congress.

Singh also gave indications that the Congress was not averse to doing business with the Left after the next elections and apprehended that the advent of Modi could lead to communal polarisation in the polls.

Asked about BJP's elevation of Modi as its election campaign chief, just a step short of announcing him the prime ministerial candidate, Singh said, 'We are not concerned. It is not an issue with us. BJP is free to take any decision. We are in the politics of ideology and not personality...Congress party does not believe in the politics of polarisation.'