Rahul might not be the prime ministerial candidate, hints Tharoor

Kolkata : In a curious revelation , Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Saturday hinted that Rahul Gandhi might not not be the prime ministerial face in upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Detailing on strategy, Tharoor said “The coming Lok Sabha election is important in that it will deny the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) a second term in power.”

The decision on the prime ministerial face would be a collective one and “it may not be him(Gandhi)”.

The Congress, he said has a broader notion of a leader, unlike BJP.

“We had people like Pranab Mukherjee, P Chidambaram and others having tremendous track record” he added, leaving one to wonder if he was hinting inadequacy of hither-to leadership or just fringed the view on alliance strategy.

Rahul Gandhi however is a popular choice he agreed.  “If free and fair elections are held among the Congress workers, Rahul Gandhi wins hands down,” Tharoor said.

Responding to the criminal defamation complained filed against him for referring to PM Narendra Modi  “a scorpion sitting on a Shivlinga” he too another jibe comparing the leader  to  a “hero on a white stallion with an upraised sword in his hand”.

Tharoor had made the controversial remark at a literary fest held in Bengaluru on 28 Oct.

Continuing his criticism of the BJP icon, Tharoor said ,”Modi is a one-man government and everybody dancing to what he says,” he said at an event organised by an industry body, adding India now has the “most centralised PMO” in history.

“Every decision is taken by the PMO (prime minister’s office). Every file has to be sent to the PMO for approval,” he claimed.