)
As Rahul Gandhi continues to be the star campaigner for Congress, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has said he was not reluctant to take up the post of Prime Minister if the party decides so after coming to power in the Lok Sabha polls next year.
Dikshit, eyeing an unprecedented fourth victory in the assembly polls here, said the Congress Vice-President was working "very hard" to strengthen the party and that she would like him to occupy the top post if Congress comes out victorious in the general election.
"Rahul Gandhi is working very hard and the party is behind him. And if the party wins, the party will choose. He is not reluctant, he is travelling almost every day or every second day. He is running around the country," Dikshit told PTI in an interview.
Heaping praise on Rahul, 75-year-old Dikshit said he was working tirelessly for the party and insisted that Congress does not have a tradition of announcing Prime Ministerial candidate beforehand.
"He has been made the Vice President of the party six months back. He is getting into that role. Let's not talk of who is going to be the Prime Minister.
"We are going to strive hard to win the next general elections," she said, adding "I would like him to become Prime Minister because he is our next generation leader."
Asked whether the thought of becoming Prime Minister ever crossed her mind, Dikshit replied in negative.
"No. It really did not. There can be speculation and all kinds of things. I do my work like I think all politicians do," she said.
