Rahul Gandhi will not be Congress’ PM candidate

Despite a majority of leaders at the Congress Working Committee meet pushing for Rahul Gandhi to be made the party's prime ministerial candidate, the party demurred from the decision and instead decided to appoint him the poll campaign chief.

"We had one major resolution that has to be passed tomorrow and all the issues in it were discusses...The Congress President and Vice President placed their views on the resolution," Congress spokesperson Janardan Dwivedi told reporters, refusing to disclose all its contents.

"Many of the members in the CWC wanted that he (Rahul) should be made the Prime ministerial candidate but after some debate Congress president Sonia Gandhi intervened," he said.

"She said that there was no such tradition in the Congress. If someone declares their PM candidate it doesn't mean that we have to do the same," Dwivedi said.

Rahul Gandhi reportedly shot down the proposal to make him the PM candidate. PTI

He said that Sonia had endorsed making Rahul Gandhi the head of the party's campaign in the upcoming elections.

"The resolution in today's meeting says: 'This meeting of the AICC declares that the campaign of the elections will be headed by Rahul Gandhi'," he said.

Rahul Gandhi said that he would do everything to strengthen the party and that he would do anything that the party sought of him, Dwivedi said.

"Rahulji said the decision on other matters will be taken at the appropriate time," he said.

CNN-IBN quoted sources as saying that Rahul had himself said that he didn't want to be the party's prime ministerial candidate and was backed by the top brass of the party on his decision, including by Sonia Gandhi.

The Congress leader is to be appointed the party's poll committee chief at the AICC meet tomorrow, thus making him the face of the party's campaign, but not pitting him in a direct race against the BJP's Narendra Modi.

In a recent interview, Rahul had said that he was willing to accept any responsibility for the party which had been interpreted by some as saying he was set to be the party's prime ministerial candidate.

However, as Firstpost's R Jagannathan had noted, it made little sense for the Congress to make him the prime ministerial candidate ahead of an election in which the party is facing massive anti-incumbency:

There is nothing Rahul gains beyond emphasising his prime ministerial ambitions when he is not going to get the chance this time. In fact, no title or announcement is going to enhance his status as Congress' pre-eminent power after Sonia Gandhi for he is already the de facto nominee for PM. So the best we can expect when the party meets on 17 January is a clearer statement of his position as the party's lead campaigner in the Lok Sabha polls, and the one who will henceforth take the final call on party level changes and selection of candidates.