Rahul Gandhi will be PM if Congress re-elected: Chidambaram

Predicts the Indian electorate may give a fractured mandate in the upcoming polls

Rahul Gandhi will be the Prime Minister of India if the Congress party returns to power after the general elections due by May, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said on Wednesday, barely a few days after his party decided not to declare its PM candidate.

"If Congress is called to form the government, I am pretty certain in my mind that Rahul Gandhi will be the prime minister," Chidambaram said at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting here.

He said the Gandhi scion, who is currently the vice president of the pary, has enough fire in his belly to be the prime minister of the country.

Congress party president and Rahul's mother Sonia Gandhi at the party's delegates session last week announced that nobody would be named the Congress prime ministerial candidate ahead of the general elections.

Main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has declared Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as its prime ministerial candidate.

However, Chidambaram predicted that the Indian electorate is likely to give a fractured mandate in the upcoming elections and no party would get a clear majority to form the government.