Congress bets on single-largest-party tag as it relents on 'Rahul for PM'

NEW DELHI: Congress's apparent "dilution" of party president Rahul Gandhi's projection as prime ministerial candidate renewed the discussion on the opposition's leadership dilemma with Trinamool Congress asserting that Mamata Banerjee is the front-runner for the top job in 2019.

Congress seemed to have stepped back from its position, articulated after the first meeting of the reconstituted working committee, when top party sources on Tuesday said the priority was to stop BJP and any leader outside the BJP-RSS fold is acceptable for leading anon-NDA government.

The de-emphasis ran counter to Congress's statement on Sunday. "Congress is the only political party in India which has a unit from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. We may have won less number of seats in the general elections...(But) once Congress becomes the single largest party touching the magic figure of 200 or so, it will be leading whoever else wants to walk hand in hand. And Congress chief will be the only face to be projected. Congress will fight this election by putting forward our leader Rahul Gandhi," Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewalahad said.

Party leaders felt the subtle but important shift from the post-CWC articulation could be intended to smoothen feathers among likely allies which might nurse ambitions and do not want to endorse anyone else just yet. Given the positioning of the federal front promoted by Mamata, Congress's claims could muddy waters at a time when the opposition is attempting to present a united front against NDA.

Congress leaders also point out, as Surjewala suggested, that if the opposition were to be in a position to form a government, the party will in all likelihood be the single largest in the group and emerge as a natural claimant to leading the next government. "The matter need not be emphasised at present," said a leader.

The flip-side of the articulation, however, is that Congress is implicitly conceding space to regional parties as it essentially sees winning 200 seats as a doable target. This would mean that its battle will largely lie in states where it faces BJP as the rival while regional parties dominate elsewhere. This makes Congress's efforts a high-stake face-off with BJP where it banks on an erosion in saffron ranks from the high of 2014.