Expecting a fractured mandate in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, L. Hanumanthaiah, Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member, said that senior Congress leader M. Mallikarjun Kharge might emerge as the party candidate for Prime Ministerial post in the event that Congress did not get enough seats to form the government at the Centre. He was of the opinion that a situation might arise to form a non-BJP government at the Centre and Congress president Rahul Gandhi might not be acceptable to all post-poll coalition partners. He was addressing a media conference at the District Congress Committee office here on Tuesday.
“If Congress or UPA [United Progressive Alliance] get a clear majority, Mr. Gandhi will be the Prime Ministerial candidate. If Congress or UPA doesn’t get enough seats to form a government at the Centre, all secular parties opposed to BJP’s ideology may come forward to form a government at the Centre. If Rahul Gandhi is not acceptable to all the parties as the candidate, then Mr. Kharge would be a natural choice,” he said, appealing to the voters of Kalaburagi.