Parties blame each other for sporadic violence in N Bengal
The Election Commission received over 100 complaints of violence and intimidation from three Lok Sabha segments, Cooch Behar, Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri.
The National Congress Party (NCP) on Tuesday said there was nothing wrong in Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s statement that he is ready to become the Prime Minister if his party wins the maximum number of seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
The NCP, which was part of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government from 2004 to 2014, is expected to ally with the Congress again for the general elections next year.
NCP national spokesman Nawab Malik said there was nothing to object to Gandhi’s statement.
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“If people decide to entrust the Congress with the job of ruling the country, he (Rahul Gandhi) will be the prime ministerial candidate,” he said.
Malik said NCP party chief Sharad Pawar had ruled himself out of the prime ministerial race earlier since the party contests fewer seats and has a limited number of MPs.
Earlier in the day, Rahul Gandhi said that he would become the Prime Minister of the country if his party emerged as the single largest party after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
He said this in reply to a question during an interaction with prominent personalities in Bengaluru as part of the launch of Samruddhi Bharat conference in Bengaluru.
Asked if he would be the next prime minister, the Gandhi scion said, “Well, it depends…it depends on how well the Congress does in the election…I mean if it emerges as the biggest party, yes.”
(With agency inputs)
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