Cong will not declare Rahul PM candidate,says Digvijaya

“We do not have a presidential form of government. The Congress party does not declare PM or CM candidates before elections…. Even in the Karnataka Assembly elections,we had not declared any CM candidate,” Singh told PTI in an interview.

He was replying to questions why the Congress was diffident about projecting Rahul Gandhi,why it should not project him and who is the PM candidate of the Congress.

Singh also gave indications that the Congress was not averse to doing business with the Left after the next elections and apprehended that the advent of Modi could lead to communal polarisation in the polls.

Asked about the elevation of Modi as the BJP’s election campaign chief,just a step short of announcing him the prime ministerial candidate,Singh said,“We are not concerned. It is not an issue with us. The BJP is free to take any decision. We are in the politics of ideology and not personality…Congress party does not believe in the politics of polarisation.”

Asked whether the Congress treats Modi as a political challenge and about Union minister Jairam Ramesh’s comments that Modi presented managerial and ideological challenge to the party,Singh said,“The very name of Modi and before that of L K Advani give an impression of polarisation. It is not Modi. It is the ideology of the Sangh and the BJP which believes in divisive politics. Politics of hatred and violence based on religious lines,which is the challenge,” he said.

Singh sidestepped a query on whether Prime Minister Manmohan Singh could again be Congress’s PM candidate. “First the country has to give us a mandate again and then the Parliamentary Party and the party chief have to take a decision in consultation with elected MPs,” he said.

To a question on whether the Left Front,which supported the UPA-I government from outside is a natural ally of the Congress,Singh said,“We had very good experience for the first four years of working with the Left in the UPA-I but unfortunately the Left made a big issue of the nuclear Bill” and withdrew support to the government.

“My own perception is that with the Left,we know the parameters in which we work together. It is easier to work with the Left because we know the parameters in which they work,” he said.

About the political fallout of the JD(U) walking out of the NDA in Bihar and whether it can be a part of the UPA,Singh said this is an issue which has to be considered by the Congress high command.