Yes, says Rahul Gandhi to question if he can be PM in 2019 elections

Congress president Rahul Gandhi was asked about his career while campaigning for Karnataka elections.

Karnataka Elections 2018 Updated: May 08, 2018 15:03 IST

Congress president Rahul Gandhi waves during a public meeting ahead of Karnataka Assembly elections at Bheemanna Khandre Institute of Technology Ground in Aurad.(PTI Photo)

Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said he believes he can become the prime minister in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections--a rare time he commented about his political career.

“Well, it depends--it depends on how well the Congress does in the election--I mean if it emerges as the biggest party, yes,” Gandhi was quoted by PTI as saying in Bangalore, when he was asked if he could be the next prime minister.

Gandhi, who is campaigning in the Karnataka elections, said he is “pretty confident” that Narendra Modi will not be re-elected as prime minister.

“It is highly unlikely that BJP will form the next government, and the second part is that it is close to impossible that Modi will be the next prime minister,” he said.

Gandhi became Congress president in December 2017, in an elevation that marked a generational shift for the country’s oldest political party that lost power in the 2014 elections.

While speaking to students of University of California in Berkley in September 2017, he had said he was “absolutely ready” to be his party’s prime ministerial candidate in 2019.