'Ready to become next PM'

Rahul Gandhi yesterday acknowledged what the Congress has said for some time now. He said he was ready to be Prime Minister that is if his Congress emerged as the single largest party in the 2019 national election.

At a gathering of prominent citizens in Bengaluru, an outreach organized in the last few days of campaigning for the May 12 Karnataka election, the Congress president was asked whether he could become Prime Minister, reports NDTV. "I am pretty convinced that Modi is not going to be prime minister.

I can see it in his face. He knows it," he said in reply to a question. "Will you become prime minister?" the questioner asked. "Well it depends...it depends on how well the Congress party does. If the Congress party is the biggest party, yes," he responded.

If the Congress acted as a "platform" (with other parties in a coalition), the BJP didn't stand a chance of winning the elections, he said, stressing on opposition unity. "It is highly unlikely that BJP will form the next government, and the second part is that it is close to impossible that Modi will be the next prime minister," he added.