New Delhi: Ahead of the crucial AICC session tomorrow, Union Minister Oscar Fernandes today said Rahul Gandhi is Congress candidate for Prime Ministership even as suspense remains on whether the party will formally annoint him as PM nominee for the Lok Sabha polls. "Whether he (Rahul) accepts or not, he is our Prime Ministerial candidate.
He will certainly accept (the responsibility), this is my opinion," the Road Transport Minister told reporters here. "Wait till tomorrow," Fernandes said when asked whether the announcement of Rahul Gandhi's candidature for the top post will be made tomorrow.
He also said that there is no difference of opinion among senior party leaders on it. "No, no differences... we all are very happy."
To a specific question as to how his name can be formally announced as the party's PM candidate amid different opinions in Congress on it, Fernades, who has held key positions in party organidsation for long, insisted, "It has to be done."
The remarks of the senior party leader are significant as they come on a day when Congress Working Committee is meeting to take a final view on the issue ahead of the AICC meeting tomorrow.
In last few days, there have been contradictory signals from the party with some leaders indicating that he should be named the PM candidate before the polls while few others advocating a word of caution on it.
Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia also hoped that such an announcement could be made at the AICC meeting.
Meanwhile, Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad said Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi has all the credentials for becoming the country's prime minister and would prove much better than 'communal' Narendra Modi.
"Kya kammi hain unme Pradhan Mantri banane me? (does he lack any quality to become Prime Minister?)... He has all the qualities for the high post," Prasad told reporters here.
"Has he instigated any communal riot or indulged in crime against any community?" the RJD chief asked rating Gandhi higher than the BJP's prime ministerial nominee, Modi.
Prasad, who has been rooting for a tie up with Congress in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections said he might be dubbed a 'sycophant' for praising Gandhi but it is a "fact" that Gandhi is "Prime Minister material".
On Yoga-guru Ramdev calling him 'Kans' for not supporting fellow backward caste leader Modi for the high post, Prasad said "Ramdev is going on the path of Asaram and will meet the same fate."
