Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia says naming Rahul Gandhi for PM would help Congress in polls
How Delhi votes today, India votes tomorrow - this popular inference has become a nightmare for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Congress party, which has been mauled in state polls just months ahead of the national election due by May.
The BJP on Sunday retained power in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and wrested Rajasthan from the Congress. In Delhi, the BJP emerged the single largest party, but not a clear winner. The party's leaders said the verdict shows that the Centre's UPA government has lost its mandate to rule, and pitched the 2014 polls as a direct fight between the BJP and Congress.
"72 parliamentary seats went to the polls in these assembly segments. The Congress has won very few of them. If arithmetical calculation is made, BJP would have succeeded probably in about 65 out of these constituencies." said BJP leader Arun Jaitley.
The BJP credits its "phenomenal" strike rate of 70 per cent to naming Narendra Modi as their presumptive prime minister.
"No one can deny we benefited greatly from our PM candidate Narendra Modi," said BJP chief Rajnath Singh.
"State elections are different from national elections," said Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Sunday. But for the first time, she acknowledged the repeated demand of several congressmen that naming a Prime Ministerial candidate may just help the party. "At the opportune time, the name of our PM candidate will be announced," she said.
Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia later said, "It would make a huge difference if Rahul Gandhi is announced PM candidate."
The Congress president was non-committal about a greater role for her son and party vice president, at a time the party is struggling with reasons for its massive defeat, and questions are being raised about the fading Gandhi appeal.
Mr Gandhi promised to aggressively bring about changes in the party to reflect the voice of the common man, but he has limited time.
"We need to make urgent changes and start in one or two days, since only six months are left for elections," said Mr Scindia, who led the Congress' failed campaign to return to power in Madhya Pradesh. The Congress cadre, he said, is "hugely demoralized."