Rahul Gandhi will be Prime Minister if Congress wins: Jairam Ramesh

NEW DELHI: Union minister Jairam Ramesh said if Congress returns to power, he does not see the party MPs electing anyone other than Rahul Gandhi as prime minister.

Ramesh said irrespective of the fact that Rahul was not announced the PM candidate, he was masterminding and executing the Congress campaign with the help of other leaders. "He is giving direction, content and substance to our campaign," he said.

In an interview to TOI, the rural development minister said, "As far as we are concerned, a vote for Congress is a vote for Rahul and vice versa. Ours is not a presidential system. The MPs elect their leader and in case of Congress, I don't see them electing anyone other than Rahul."

A part of the Congress's key election campaign panel, Ramesh denied that Rahul's future leadership would receive a setback if the party lost the election and the party had taken a big risk in putting him at the head of party in a contest which was going to be difficult.

"He is leading our campaign. Leadership means taking the ups and downs of political campaigning," he said.

With Rahul beginning to speak out in public, Ramesh said it was a good development because communication was important.

"He has been reserved in his public communication. But there is no better way of convincing people than communicating yourself. Communication is not just for pledges and promises but also about telling what you have done," he said, adding, "He has not been reserved in private communication but he has been in public. This is beginning to change."

Ramesh wished Rahul had begun to speak out earlier. "I wish his media interactions were more frequent and had come earlier because he has a lot of things to tell, he has a good story to tell."

Backing Rahul in his political future, the minister said Rahul has an incisive and probing mind and does not have fixed answers. "Its an analytical mind and he has been trying to bring some of those dimensions of his personality into his political role," he said.

Ramesh cited democratization of the Youth Congress and the NSUI through internal elections as example of his search for solutions. "Opinion is divided on how it has fared but leadership is not about taking people to areas they know but about taking people to parts where they have not gone," he said, adding, "He wants to take his experiment to Congress."