BJP mocks at DMK's Rahul Gandhi for PM pitch, says 'no vacancy for PM post next year'

"There is no vacancy for the prime minister's post next year. Let all of them (opposition leaders) wait. Good luck to them," BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav said.

BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav. Photo: Facebook/Ram Madhav

NEW DELHI: Two days after DMK president M K Stalin vowed to make Congress chief Rahul Gandhi the country's next prime minister, the BJP on Tuesday said there is no vacancy for the country's top post next year. "There is no vacancy for the prime minister's post next year. Let all of them (opposition leaders) wait. Good luck to them," BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav said. "Soon after the announcement (by Stalin) that Rahul will be the prime minister, somebody elsewhere in the country said we are also in the queue...how you can say that he (Rahul) is the only person, I am also there," he quipped. Madhav also criticised Stalin for his "language" against Prime Minister Narendra Modi while proposing the candidature of Rahul Gandhi. "This kind of language is absolutely unfortunate. It does not behove well of Stalin," he said. Stalin in his speech in Chennai on Sunday said: Rahul has got the ability to defeat the 'Fascist Nazist' Modi government. I appeal to all my respected party leaders on the dais. We will strengthen the hands of Rahul Gandhi. We will save this nation." He said DMK chief M K Stalin's proposal had not found resonance even within the parties the Congress wants in the proposed grand alliance. Meanwhile, Stalin on Tuesday strongly defended backing Rahul Gandhi as prime ministerial candidate. Amid murmurs in the opposition ranks about reservations over the proposal, Stalin said it may have led to a debate among friendly parties. "In a democracy, solutions have emerged only from debates... these deliberations too will cause good outcomes," he said in a letter to his party cadre late Monday. Stalin appealed to other opposition parties to "strengthen the hands of Rahul to guard democracy". He said joining of forces was required to trounce the BJP in the Lok Sabha election next year. Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram had earlier maintained that the party never "officially" said its president Rahul Gandhi should be the prime minister if an opposition alliance formed the next government. The decision on who would be the prime minister in the event of an opposition alliance winning next year's Lok Sabha poll will be taken by its constituents, he had said.