No need for Congress to name its prime ministerial pick: Digvijaya Singh

NEW DELHI: At a time when there is no impediment to Rahul Gandhi's naming as PM candidate, Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh muddied the waters by saying there was no need for the party to project a PM candidate.

The comment comes ahead of the AICC session on January 17 when there is a strong possibility that the party may announce Rahul as the party face for the top job in 2014.

Singh said, "There is no need for declaring a PM candidate before elections." He added, "In politics there is a PM and a shadow PM, the shadow PM is obviously Sushma Swaraj as the leader of the opposition."

While he appeared to be cautioning that naming Rahul for PMship may be risky in the 2014 election that will be tough, he dismissed that the contest may turn into a "Rahul vs Modi" battle by calling it a media creation.

Singh was snubbed by Congress earlier when he had said that the party would not name any PM candidate ahead of election. At that time, Congress general secretary Janardan Dwivedi had dubbed it as Singh's personal opinion and added that a decision on whether to name a PM nominee or not would be taken by the leadership.

Since then, Sonia Gandhi, while talking to reporters after the assembly election rout on December 8, said Congress would announce its PM candidate at an opportune moment. The remark surprised partymen since it marked a hint that the party may change its policy on not naming a PM candidate.

Indications are Rahul has shed his reluctance on being named for the top job while Manmohan Singh's announcement that he would be retiring from politics after his second term has only added to the possibility that party may name his successor for a possible UPA-3 in power.

However, Singh seems to be sticking to his guns that Congress should desist from naming a PM candidate.

He said elections in parliamentary democracy were a contest between policies, ideologies and personalities, and not between individuals.