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In an interview to The Quint after the final rally of the election campaign, Congress President Rahul Gandhi refused to be drawn into speculation on government formation, post-poll alliances or who would become prime minister of the country after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
When asked about whether the Congress government would be flexible in its approach to government formation in the event of a hung Parliament, Gandhi said:
Gandhi was speaking to The Quint’s Editor-in Chief Raghav Bahl and Editorial Director Sanjay Pugalia after wrapping up his final speech in Solan, Himachal Pradesh, which goes to polls in the final phase on 19 May.
When questioned about senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad’s statement on Wednesday that the Congress party would not stand in the way of an opposition government without a Congress PM, Gandhi was clear that the party would wait to see the results of the general elections on 23 May.
“I’ve made it very clear that we have to respect the opinion of the masters. The masters are these people,” he said, gesturing to the crowd gathered behind him. He went on to say:
Gandhi was also bullish about the Congress and other opposition parties’ abilities to counter any attempt by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to stake a claim to form the government on the basis that they will be the single-largest party, saying:
He also dismissed the risk of having only a limited window to press the claims of the parties who have fought against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and insisted that the mandate of the people would define what would happen, not realpolitik considerations.
It was clear that he and the Congress party are now keeping their cards close to the chest and looking to avoid any conflict with their allies by making loose statements about the leadership of any alliance to form the government.
Asked about the choices available to the opposition for PM of India if they were to succeed: someone from the Congress lineage, a Dalit woman, or maybe someone from south India. Laughing that this was the same question as before in a different form, he firmly reiterated that they would wait to see how people voted.
Watch the rest of the interview for his answers on NYAY and how the Congress intends to reinvigorate the economy, the internal conflicts within the Congress party, and why he thinks Narendra Modi’s foreign policy has been a failure.
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