New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi may have expressed his willingness to undertake any responsibility given to him by his party but contrary to widespread speculation he is unlikely to be announced the Congress' prime ministerial candidate.
The Gandhi scion has appeared reluctant in the past to take up any responsibility in the government but ahead of the April-May Lok Sabha elections he had said yesterday that he was a sepoy of the party and was willing to take up any job given to him, fuelling further speculation that he would take on Narendra Modi for the PM stakes.
"I am a sepoy of Congress.I will obey whatever order is given to me. I will do whatever Congress wants me to do... Decisions are taken in our party by senior leaders," he told a Hindi daily.
However, the thinking in the Congress is that it may be "risky" to announce him as the PM candidate with the party facing an uphill task in the polls and if he is given that responsibility the blame would go to him in the event Congress does badly at the hustings.
Ahead of the AICC session on Friday, the party leadership was weighing other options such as making Rahul Gandhi in charge of the election campaign and even appointing him as Working President of the party. However, talk of Rahul Gandhi being made the PM candidate is still making the rounds.
Those who do not favour Rahul Gandhi being made the candidate for the PM's post point out that Congress does not have the tradition of naming candidate for the PM's post ahead of the polls.
