Sonia vetoes Rahul for PM

• He will only lead Congress campaign
• Will be PM only if party wins hands down
• At CWC meet, all demand Rahul as the PM nominee
• Sonia overrules them, says it’s not party tradition
• If Cong stitches a coalition govt, someone else will become PM
• Today’s AICC session to ratify the CWC resolution

New Delhi: Fearing a defeat in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections will mar the long-term career of Rahul Gandhi, the Congress Working Committee on Thursday stopped short of naming him as the Prime Ministerial candidate, and instead decided to project him as the campaign chief of the party.

It was none else but Congress President Sonia Gandhi, herself, who overruled the CWC members when they pushed for Rahul Gandhi’s projection as Prime Ministerial candidate. Vetoing the unanimous demand of the senior leaders, Sonia Gandhi said that it was not the tradition of the Congress party to name the Prime Ministerial candidate. They would not declare the same just because other parties (read BJP) have projected their PM nominee.

Fearing that the Congress may not come out victorious in the elections, the party may in the wake of a hung verdict prop up another leader to lead the coalition government.

Rahul Gandhi will be named only when the Congress wins hands down in the crucial 2014 polls, which according to poll pundits is unlikely.

Instead of the three-way contest among Rahul, Modi, Kejriwal and also the likes of Jayalalithaa, Mamata Banerjee, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati, Sonia Gandhi is disinclined to push her son in the same situation. At the CWC meeting ahead of the AICC Session on Friday, sources stated that all the 16 members, who spoke wanted, Rahul Gandhi to be named as the PM candidate. However, Sonia Gandhi disappointed them by saying that they will follow the Congress tradition of not naming the candidate.

After an hour-long meeting, AICC General Secretary Janardhan Dwivedi said that though Rahul Gandhi had not been named as PM candidate, he was the “natural leader” of the party and there was no doubt that he would head the Congress government if it came to power.

Rahul Gandhi, himself, reiterated what he had stated in an interview to the Hindi Daily recently that he was ready to take-up any responsibility what the party wanted. He said that attempts were being made to strike at the ideology of the Congress party, but they would not let their rivals succeed on the issue. His effort would be to strengthen the ideology of the Congress. The CWC resolution would be ratified at the AICC session on Friday. The essence of the resolution will on Rahul Gandhi’s future role in the party. It will state, “This meeting of the AICC declares that the 2014 election campaign will be led by Rahul Gandhi.” It will have to be seen if the delegates attending the AICC session would remain silent on Rahul Gandhi not being projected as the PM candidate, or would again raise the pitch for his taking the plunge for taking Modi head-on. Rahul’s response would be keenly watched.