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Last Friday, while chairing a meeting of Congress chief ministers Rahul Gandhi, the Congress Vice President publicly ticked off Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan’s cabinet for rejecting the Adarsh housing scam probe report. Gandhi said, “I personally don’t agree with that decision. They should reconsider.” Today, the Maharashtra cabinet retracted its earlier stand and accepted the report that has indicted several former chief ministers. Rahul Gandhi is for all practical purposes calling the shots and most Congressmen are now vehemently demanding that this power be designated formally and Gandhi should be named Prime Minister candidate.
The chorus for Rahul Gandhi as Prime Minister has Congress chief ministers publicly rooting for the Gandhi scion. Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda speaking to reporters stated that in his personal opinion that his (Rahul's) name should be declared as the prime ministerial candidate. This was echoed by Assam CM Tarun Kumar Gogoi. Gogoi said, “There is a lot of speculation going on in the media about whether the Prime Minister will complete his term or not. It is my personal opinion that he should complete his term and Rahul Gandhi can be projected as the next leader of the party after that.”
It is no mere coincidence, say political observers that speculations about Prime Minister Manmohan Singh resigning are cropping up at the same time as the demand for Rahul Gandhi as Prime Minister.
Eyebrows were raised when Finance minister P Chidambaram, stated earlier this week that the Congress party should declare its Prime Ministerial candidate before the 2014 polls. His reasoning being, that voters want to know the leader that they are voting for during the general elections.
Ironically, a year ago, when Uttarakhand chief minister Vijay Bahuguna had in a closed door meeting with Congress scion Rahul Gandhi stated that it is time Gandhi be made Prime Minister, he was reprimanded by the Gandhi scion and asked to focus more on his work.
That mood has since changed and it is widely being predicted that Rahul Gandhi will be declared the Prime Ministerial candidate come January 17 at the Congress AICC session to charter the electoral strategy for 2014.
