I'll be PM if Congress is biggest party in 2019: Rahul Gandhi

Bengaluru: For the second time in nine months, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday spoke about his prime ministerial aspirations, asserting he was ready for the top post, inviting ridicule from the ruling BJP which said that he should first try to win state elections before eyeing Lok Sabha victory in 2019.

At an event in Bengaluru, Mr Gandhi said that he is ready to occupy the Prime Minister’s post if his party emerges as the “biggest” party in the 2019 polls, making known his ambition for the topmost executive post.

“Well, it depends... It depends on how well the Congress does in the election... I mean, if it emerges as the biggest party, yes,” Mr Gandhi said, when asked during an interaction here if he would be the next Prime Minister. This is not the first time that Mr Gandhi has spoken about his prime ministerial ambition, however, the BJP took a dig at the Congress chief over his “lofty dreams” claiming “finally, what was in his heart has come out”.

In September last year, Mr Gandhi, during aninteraction at the Berkley University in the US, had said he was “absolutely ready” to be the Prime Ministerial candidate of the Congress in 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Amid the cut and thrust of the Karnataka Assembly polls, Mr Gandhi said that he is “pretty confident” that Mr Modi would not be the next Prime Minister if BJP gets less than 200 seats. If the Congress acts as a “platform” (with other parties in a coalition), the BJP does not stand a chance of winning the elections.“It is highly unlikely that BJP will form the next government, and the second part is that it is close to impossible that Modi will be the next Prime Minister,” Mr Gandhi said, speaking at a function where he launched “Samruddha Bharat Foundation”, a platform for promoting secular values.

Describing himself as an “enabler”, Mr Gandhi said he would never like to impose any of his dreams on anyone and would rather focus more on fulfilling the dreams and aspirations of others.

He won a heart or two while asking intellectuals and others present at the event not to address him as “sir” or suffix “ji” to his name. The BJP took potshots at Mr Gandhi over his remarks that he was ready to be the Prime Minister, saying the Congress president, who is harbouring “lofty dreams” despite his party’s losing spree, should first try to win state elections.

“Look at the irony, Congress is losing state after state ever since Gandhi took over as party’s vice president and then party chief. But he is dreaming to become the prime minister. Even Congress’ allies are not accepting him as their leader,” BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said in Delhi.

“Aakhir dil ki baat zubaan par aa hi gayi (Finally, what was in his heart has come out,” Mr Hussain said on Mr Gandhi’s remarks.