Mumbai, July 25: Stating that no Indian wanted Congress president Sonia Gandhi to be the Prime Minister of India, BJP today said the issue would have little consequence in the run up to the general elections. "No Indian wants her (Sonia Gandhi) to be the Prime Minister. It is an emotional issue but will have little importance during the general elections", BJP national general secretary Pramod Mahajan told reporters at Vidhan Bhavan here.

"She is microscopic minority of one in one billion population and cannot be compared with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee", Mahajan said.

The issue of Sonia's foreign origin was not at all discussed at the party's national executive in Raipur but was only highlighted by the media during the routine press briefings, the BJP leader claimed. Mahajan asked NCP chief Sharad Pawar to clarify his party's stand on foreign origins of Sonia.

Referring to Congress's proposal of forming a pre-poll alliance of like-minded parties to take on the BJP-led NDA in the Lok Sabha polls, he said except for Laloo Prasad Yadav's RJD, no other party was likely to respond to it.

"Present circumstances indicate that besides RJD, nobody will join the Congress' pre-poll alliance", Mahajan said.

He ruled out any differences between BJP and its allies in NDA over the Ram Temple issue.

Bureau Report