Manmohan to be PM now, Rahul in future: Congress

With election trends favouring the United Progressive Alliance, the Congress on Saturday said that Manmohan Singh will be the prime minister now and Rahul Gandhi is its future prime minister.

"This election Manmohan Singh is our prime ministerial candidate," AICC General Secretary Janardan Dwivedi told reporters in New Delhi.

"Rahul is the future leader of the Congress, he will become prime minister when he desires or when such a situation emerges," Dwivedi said. He was responding to a question on chances of Rahul becoming prime minister. "There is full possibility of his becoming prime minister," he added.

He said there were three decisive factors for the party's good performance: leadership of the government by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, leadership of the UPA by Sonia Gandhi, and leadership of the campaign by Rahul. Dwivedi's remarks come at a time when the UPA appeared all set to return to power.

On the issue of alliances, Dwivedi said that the Left parties too have very few options and will have to introspect in the post-election scenario. "We had not broken the relationship, they had withdrawn support," he said.

The Left parties had withdrawn support to the Congress-led UPA government following differences over the Indo-US nuclear deal.