We are not opposed to Rahul as PM, says Sangma

His statement comes two days after NCP leader, Praful Patel said that the NCP was not opposed to either Gandhi or Rahul as the prime minister.

“The whole world knows we are opposed to Sonia Gandhi as PM,” he said.

The speculations arise as to whether there was any division of opinion within the NCP, an ally of the ruling UPA, after the former Lok Sabha speaker’s remarks as to the prime ministerial candidate in the next general elections.

Sangma along with the other leaders of the NCP had broken from the Congress and floated their own party before the 1999 LS elections on the issue of Sonia’s foreign origin.

With the combined UPA including the NCP are readying to put up a united fight against the NDA in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, the issue has again raised its head, casting a shadow on the veneer of unity of the Congress-led alliance.

“State politics is different from that of the center”, Sangma said, when asked as to why the NCP was averse to the idea of a tie-up with Congress in Meghalaya as in the center.

“How can I forget that the Congress poached on six of our MLAs in 2003 assembly elections. We cannot ally with such a party,” he added.