No vacancy for PM's post in another 10 years: Ram Madhav hits back at MK Stalin

Chennai: BJP general secretary Ram Madhav on Tuesday slammed DMK chief MK Stalin after he pitched Congress president Rahul Gandhi as the next prime minister of the country. He asserted that the PM's post is not vacant for at least the next 10 years.

"The post is not vacant for the next at least 10 more years. Soon after the announcement (by Stalin) that Rahul will be the prime minister, somebody elsewhere in the country said we are also in the queue...How you can say that he (Rahul) is the only person, I am also there," Madhav said.

The BJP leader added that the DMK chief's proposal had not found resonance even within the parties the Congress wants in the proposed grand alliance.

Madhav deplored that despite the DMK's Sunday's event being a solemn occasion, where its late patriarch M Karunanidhi's statue was unveiled, it was used to "attack the government (Centre) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, calling him names and naming the future PM".

Targeting Stalin for his criticism of PM Modi and the Centre, he said, "I pity some leaders...Khud naam Stalin (a reference to Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin) hai... (and) he calls others fascists...We have seen the face of fascism in the state under the great DMK."

"It was better to look at their own faces in mirror rather than try to throw mud at great leaders like PM Modi ...This kind of language used against top leaders like the prime minister does not behove (them) well."

Stalin had on Sunday proposed the name of Rahul Gandhi for the prime ministerial candidate. He added that the Congress chief has got the ability to defeat the 'fascist Modi government'.

"I propose we'll install a new Prime Minister in Delhi. I propose the candidature of Rahul Gandhi from Tamil Nadu. He has got the ability to defeat the fascist Modi govt," he had said while speaking at the event of unveiling a statue of late DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi at the Dravidian party's headquarters in Chennai.

Attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP government at the Centre, Stalin had said, "In the 5 years of PM Modi's rule, the country has gone 15 years back. If we give another chance to him, surely the country will go 50 years back. PM Modi is behaving like a king, that's why we've all come together to safeguard democracy and country."

(With inputs from agencies)