At a time when every survey is indicating that the chances of Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu coming to power in Andhra Pradesh for a second term are very bleak, senior politician and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar made a surprising comment on Naidu.
He told a television channel in an interview that Chandrababu Naidu could be a better choice for the post of Prime Minister of the country than Congress president Rahul Gandhi.
“Naidu is a better face of the non-BJP political parties in the country to be projected as the prime ministerial candidate than Rahul Gandhi,” he said.
In the same breath, Pawar also indicated that Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee or Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati could also be better contenders for the PM post than Rahul Gandhi.
“We don’t mind whether it is Mamata or Maya or Naidu for the PM post, if the non-NDA coalition comes to power. All the talks about Rahul as a Prime Minister are baseless,” he said.
The NCP president further hinted at forging alliances with some of the NDA alliance partners after the election and bringing them into the UPA fold.
On whether he would be in the race for the prime minister post, Pawar said in the negative.
“There are many other good leaders in the country capable of becoming Prime Minister. After elections are over, we will come with a common minimum programme to provide an alternative to the country,” he asserted.