Attempting to take the wind out of the Congress sails and taking an apparent dig at Rahul Gandhi for his prime ministerial aspirations, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday questioned the UPA principal on its choice for the top post, this on a day when senior Congress leader and Minister Pranab Mukherjee said Rahul would soon take over as PM.
The BJP tongue-lash came in wake of the lampooning comments it was targeted with following former vice president and party senior Bhairon Singh Shekhawat's expressed aspirations to contest the next General Elections.
Taking the sting out of the Congress attack BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad questioned: "Our single question in reply to the questions asked by Congress is that they should come out clear on their Prime Ministerial candidate's name. Let the Nation know who they should vote for."
Congress had on Wednesday ridiculed the BJP by commenting that the saffron party should first seek to decide among themselves who their leader is before talking of taking on the grand old party.
On being asked about Shekhawat's plans to fight the Lok Sabha polls, Prasad said, "Shekhawatji is a senior leader and president of the party has commented whatever he had to."
Meanwhile Congress stalwart, foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee, said that Rahul Gandhi may soon take over as the country's prime minister.
"The days are not far off when Rahul Gandhi may follow his father's footsteps," Mukherjee said at a conference of overseas Indians, adding that late Rajiv Gandhi had become PM at the age of 40.
The statements were loaded with connotation especially as political pundits have been suggesting that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh may have lost favour and the implicit trust invested in him by the top Congress leadership when he dug in his feet over the Indo-US nuclear deal, which he aggressively sought as the high point of his present term in office.
The Congress rubbishing speculation as just that has declared that it would be lead to the hustings by premier Singh.
Though the party had rapped HRD minister Arjun Singh when he had first said that Rahul should take over the reins from Manmohan Singh, minister Mukherjee’s claims found support from a significant section in the Congress including former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh and party spokesman Shakil Ahmed.
The BJP tongue-lash came in wake of the lampooning comments it was targeted with following former vice president and party senior Bhairon Singh Shekhawat's expressed aspirations to contest the next General Elections.
Taking the sting out of the Congress attack BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad questioned: "Our single question in reply to the questions asked by Congress is that they should come out clear on their Prime Ministerial candidate's name. Let the Nation know who they should vote for."
Congress had on Wednesday ridiculed the BJP by commenting that the saffron party should first seek to decide among themselves who their leader is before talking of taking on the grand old party.
On being asked about Shekhawat's plans to fight the Lok Sabha polls, Prasad said, "Shekhawatji is a senior leader and president of the party has commented whatever he had to."
Meanwhile Congress stalwart, foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee, said that Rahul Gandhi may soon take over as the country's prime minister.
"The days are not far off when Rahul Gandhi may follow his father's footsteps," Mukherjee said at a conference of overseas Indians, adding that late Rajiv Gandhi had become PM at the age of 40.
The statements were loaded with connotation especially as political pundits have been suggesting that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh may have lost favour and the implicit trust invested in him by the top Congress leadership when he dug in his feet over the Indo-US nuclear deal, which he aggressively sought as the high point of his present term in office.
The Congress rubbishing speculation as just that has declared that it would be lead to the hustings by premier Singh.
Though the party had rapped HRD minister Arjun Singh when he had first said that Rahul should take over the reins from Manmohan Singh, minister Mukherjee’s claims found support from a significant section in the Congress including former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh and party spokesman Shakil Ahmed.
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