Rahul will not be Congress's PM candidate after Sonia's 'no'

by Seva Lamberdar Thu Jan 16, 2014 10:34 am

NEW DELHI: The Congress has decided not to project party vice-president Rahul Gandhi as its prime ministerial candidate on Thursday, the PTI has tweeted. Instead, the party has decided to make Gandhi its campaign committee chief for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

According to reports, it was Congress president Sonia Gandhi who decided to go against the wishes of the Congress working committee, which wanted the party vice-president to be its prime ministerial candidate.

Congress leader Janardhan Dwivedi reportedly said: "All in CWC wanted Rahul to be named PM candidate, but the Congress president intervened. She said this is not the party's tradition (to announce its PM candidate before elections)."

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Rahul-will-not-be-Congresss-PM-candidate-after-Sonias-no/articleshow/28899744.cms

by Seva Lamberdar Thu Jan 16, 2014 10:57 am

"... this is not the party's tradition (to announce its PM candidate before elections)." shows how stupid the voters are to vote for a party which does not care to announce the name of its potential prime minister before the elections.

by Vakavaka Pakapaka Thu Jan 16, 2014 10:57 am

MT is not ruling out his nomination for the PM's post. She is just delaying the announcement. She thinks that, with his lackluster leadership qualities, his chances of winning enough MP seats are slim if projected as the PM candidate. Instead, she wants her son to ride on the coat-tails of others and if CONmen can pull the wool over the poor voting suckers and manage to get enough MPs, then, she will ask CWC to nominate Pappu as the PM candidate.

Garibi Hatao.

by truthbetold Thu Jan 16, 2014 12:41 pm

Whether rahul is pm candidate or not is one of those useless "inside the beltway " kind of discussion. Indian voters know its is a fight between rahul and modi.
only journos care about this stuff.
it is also an indication that sonia is preparing for the impending doom.

by indophile Thu Jan 16, 2014 1:54 pm

May be she is afraid that Sikhs may go after him if officially announces his PM ambitions.

by southindian Thu Jan 16, 2014 2:22 pm

Yup. Got it.

Winning the elections are more important. (First goal).

Rahul as PM can be decided later... after securing wins in the elections.

Nice strategy.

by Seva Lamberdar Thu Jan 16, 2014 4:23 pm

southindian wrote:Yup. Got it.

Winning the elections are more important. (First goal).

Rahul as PM can be decided later... after securing wins in the elections.

Nice strategy.

That ("Winning the elections are more important.") may be the goal for the party, but that is not a surety of effective leader (P.M.) for the country.

There is only one way for the country (voters, especially) to make sure that there will be an effective leader as the head of Govt. afterwards, i.e. by having the prime ministerial candidate declared by the party before the election whom people / voters can judge properly (as a good leader of his party) before casting their vote (for him and his party-colleagues) in the parliamentary elections. That is the essence of the parliamentary democracy, and not that someone (usually a puppet or a figurehead) is pushed into the P.M.'s chair after the election through the backdoor by members in the wining party.

by truthbetold Thu Jan 16, 2014 8:04 pm

Sevaji,
the essence of parliamentary system is that 'elected' representatives elect a leader to lead the party and the nation as opposed to presidential system where people elect an individual to run the country.
this whole discussion about rahul leading congress vs declaring m candidate is a complete hogwash. if congress wins or forms a coalition, rahul will be forced as pm on the nation.
The failure to name rahul as pm candidate shows the nervousness within congress.

by Seva Lamberdar Fri Jan 17, 2014 11:03 am

truthbetold wrote:
the essence of parliamentary system is that 'elected' representatives elect a leader to lead the party and the nation

Have you heard of such a thing happening (people / voters not knowing the name of the potential P.M. when they cast votes for members of Parliament in the general elections) in U.K. and Canada etc., the countries (with parliamentary democracies) on whose constitutions the Indian Constitution was based for its parliamentary democarcy? The answer is 'no'.

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