Rahul Gandhi Will Be Congress' PM Candidate For 2024 LS Elections, Says Ashok Gehlot

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday said that Rahul Gandhi is Congress’ prime ministerial candidate for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. He said that this decision was taken by all the 26 opposition parties in the INDIA alliance after deliberations and discussions.

Congress has decided to make Rahul Gandhi the PM candidate, Gehlot told India Today.

Gehlot said that although there are local factors at play each election the situation in the country at present has created “immense pressure” on all the parties in the alliance.

He reportedly said that the prime minister should not be arrogant. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi should not be arrogant since in 2014, BJP came to power with only 31 per cent votes. The remaining 69 per cent votes were against him,” Gehlot said.

According to Gehlot the meeting of the INDIA opposition alliance in Bengaluru in July scared the NDA.

Dismissing the claims that NDA is working towards gaining power with 50 per cent votes in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Gehlot said that the prime minister will never be able to achieve that. “When Modi was at the peak of popularity, he couldn’t secure 50 per cent of the votes. His vote share will decrease and the results of the 2024 elections will determine who becomes the Prime Minister,” Gehlot added.

The Rajasthan chief minister also claimed that in 2014 it was because of Congress that PM Modi became the prime minister.

Criticizing the prime minister’s speaking style, Gehlot said that in a democracy, making predictions about the future is not possible.

Reportedly, he said, “This decision should be made by the people, and everyone should respect their choice. PM Modi’s made many promises but the public knows what happened to them.”

Ashok Gehlot attributed the success of Chandrayaan-3 to former prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi.

“Nehru’s contribution is also significant in the success of Chandrayaan-3, and the current achievements are the result of the hard work of India Gandhi and Nehru,” said Gehlot.

Gehlot claimed that the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) was established after former PM Nehru listened to the suggestion made by the scientist Vikram Sarabhai. The Space Centre’s name was something else back in the day, but after Indira Gandhi came to power the name was changed to ISRO, he said.