If Cong wins, Rahul will be PM: Chidambaram

Calls party's economic policies as retrograde and "blood-eyed"

As India prepares for elections, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday expressed confidence that Rahul Gandhi would be the Prime Minister if Congress comes back to power, saying the young leader has enough “fire in his belly” for the post, although it was unlikely that any party would get majority and the polls were likely to throw a “very very fractured mandate”.

He also hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) terming its economic policies as retrograde and “blood-eyed” and asked why the opposition party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi never fielded a Muslim candidate. Speaking at the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting here, Chidambaram also took dig at the Aam Aadmi Party, saying there was no place for mob-democracy in India and the country was a party-based democracy where individuals cannot be bigger than a party.

Chidambaram said BJP does not represent all sections of India and it does not even have presence in many parts of the country. “It has got policies that would destroy the very idea of India. Their’s a blood-eyed economic model,” he said.

Explaining how BJP can be described as following “blood-eyed” economic model when factories were not being destroyed in Gujarat and businessmen were happy, Chidambaram said it is not about destroying factories. Giving examples, he said BJP is opposing multi-brand retail on the premise that it would kill jobs, while the fact was just the opposite.

Asked about the coming general election he said, “If Congress is called to form the government, I'm pretty certain in my mind that Rahul Gandhi will be the Prime Minister.”

In 2004 Sonia Gandhi was elected leader, but the next day she declined and another leader was chosen. That model has worked, but that does not mean that we will have same model again, he said.

 

"If Congress is called to form the government, I'm pretty certain in my mind that Rahul Gandhi will be the Prime Minister," he said.