SAD cautions against 'jumping the gun' on PM candidate issue

Striking a discordant note with JD(U) which demanded BJP to declare a prime ministerial candidate by December, key NDA ally Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today said a consensus on the choice can be reached only after the polls.
"I think we are jumping the gun if we try to predict today," SAD leader Naresh Gujral said.
"...Obviously this question will remain open and only post poll, if we have the largest number, will the President call us and at that stage we will call the potential allies and take their views into consideration and there will be a consensus on a prime ministerial candidate," he said.

Gujral's reaction came after JD(U), in its resolution passed today, gave BJP an eight-month deadline to declare its prime ministerial candidate with a "secular credibility beyond doubt", warning of "negative results" otherwise.
"First of all in politics, there are no strict deadlines and secondly we are all independent political parties and when elections are declared and we go to polls, we have to ensure we project those leaders that give us maximum advantage," the SAD leader said.
Stating that BJP on its own cannot win 272 Lok Sabha seats, Gujral said, "We will need potential allies and we cannot tell them that PM has been decided so you please come and join. Politics is never played like that.