Rahul Gandhi on next Prime Minister: 'Not in PM race as of now, decision to be taken post elections'

Lok Janshakti Party leader and Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan had on Saturday said that there is no vacancy for the post of PM in 2019.

Image tweeted by @INCIndia

New Delhi: In a major statement regarding his candidacy for the post of Prime Minister, Congress president Rahul Gandhi said in London that his focus in not to hold any particular post, but only to safeguard the nation. He clarified that he is not in the race for PM. The decision about  it will be taken after the elections.

I don't have these visions. I view myself as fighting an ideological battle & this change has come in me after 2014. I realised that there's a risk to Indian state, to Indian way of doing things&I'm defending that: R.Gandhi in London, on being asked, if he sees himself as next PM pic.twitter.com/2cgOjv8SNK

— ANI (@ANI) August 25, 2018

Reacting to his statement, BJP leader Jagadambika Pal said that the united opposition does not have any candidate they can field against PM Modi. Congress leader Alok Sharma said that Congress has always declared the face for the post after elections, be it 2004 or 2009. On speaking about being PM candidate in 2019 elections, Rahul Gandhi said that his fight was against a mindset and as of now he is not thinking about being PM candidate. He said that it was after 2014 he realized that his fight was against the RSS ideology which he considers a threat to the country. He said that the kind of incidents taking place in the country after 2014 pose a grave threat to the fabric of the country. Previously Gandhi had said in a press conference during Karnataka elections that if Congress gets the majority in the polls, he will become the Prime Minister. Interacting with National Indian Students and Alumni Union (UK) at the London School of Economics on Saturday Gandhi had said: “The next election is pretty straightforward. On one side there is BJP and on the other side, there is every opposition party. The reason is, for the first time, Indian institutions are under attack," he said. "What we are defending is the onslaught on the Indian constitution and Indian institutions, and me and the entire opposition sees it as defending the nature of the Indian state. Lok Janshakti Party leader and Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan had on Saturday said that there is no vacancy for the post of PM in 2019. He said that the united opposition front should start worrying about the 2024 elections from now, as in 2019 Modi faces no challenge in victory. Gandhi had said on Staurday: "I have been through a certain degree of violence. Those experiences have made me compassionate to people".