Azad rules out Rahul as Cong’s UP CM face

Aditi Tandon

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Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 13

Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha and Congress’ new general secretary for Uttar Pradesh Ghulam Nabi Azad today ruled out the projection of party vice-president Rahul Gandhi as the chief ministerial face in the poll-bound state. He however said the Congress will name a CM candidate in UP at an appropriate time admitting that this would be a departure from the norm.

“Rahul Gandhi is a national leader. How can he be our Uttar Pradesh chief ministerial candidate?” Azad quipped when asked on his first day as general secretary, a post he is handling for a record 10th time. The suggestion of projecting Rahul in UP was said to have come from party’s strategist for UP Prashant Kishor who is for fielding a Brahmin leader in the state.

Acknowledging that in present times the projection of a CM face was important, Azad said, “We will project a chief ministerial candidate at the right time”. 

On a pointed query about whether Priyanka Gandhi will have a larger role beyond Amethi and Rae Bareilley constituencies in the 2017 UP polls, Azad said, “I have not yet spoken to her about this.”

A former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir and a seasoned organizational man in the Congress, Azad ruled out talks of alliances in UP saying the Congress would “fight in UP on its own strength”.

He said his immediate priority would be to “expose BJP and other parties that are playing a politics of polarization along religious and caste lines.