Dehradun: Expressing confidence that the Congress Party would win the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing Industries Harish Rawat today said party general secretary Rahul Gandhi would then become the prime minister of the country.
"He (Manmohan Singh) enjoys the confidence of UPA (United Progressive Alliance) and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and the lawmakers of the government. There is no question of change in leadership. We will emerge victorious in the 2014 elections and Rahul Gandhi would become the prime minister," said Rawat.
Rahul Gandhi is notably being touted as the strongest contender for the candidature of prime ministerial position from the Congress party.
However, many are yet to be convinced about his capability of leading the world`s biggest democracy.
Rawat also praised the current Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.
Touting his governance qualities and honesty, Rawat said that the country needed the guidance of an economist like Dr Singh as the world is about to face another economic slowdown.
"Manmohan Singh is working very well. We need the guidance of Manmohan Singh as the nation and the world is going to face yet another economic slowdown. The price of commodities is touching sky and during this crisis period we need an economist like him. Everybody believes his honesty and governance qualities," he added.
The Congress-led UPA Government has been facing the anger of opposition parties over various scams that have rocked the country this year, the most predominant of them being the 2G spectrum scam and the Commonwealth Games (CWG) scam.
Rawat further slammed the offensive tactics of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), saying that the BJP was trying to hide its own weaknesses as the party was undergoing through an internal war.
"Narendra Modi is angry and is sitting in Gujarat. In Delhi, Sushma Swaraj, Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley are becoming impatient. The BJP is undergoing an internal war but they have developed a tactics to attack other parties. They think that by becoming offensive they will succeed in hiding their weaknesses," said Rawat.
Speculations have been rife about a possible internal rift between Gujarat Chief Minister Modi and BJP veteran Lal Krishna Advani. Modi`s absence at the recently held BJP national executive meet was interpreted as his displeasure at Advani launching his yatra from Bihar, instead of Gujarat.
BJP leaders, however, cited the ongoing ``Navratri`` festival as the reason behind Modi`s absence.
ANI
