I am fittest to become Prime Minister, says Azam Khan

Kanpur: Claiming to be the "fittest" person to become the Prime Minister, senior Uttar Pradesh minister and Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan on Tuesday said that he aspires to take up the top job.

"If Narendra Modi resigns and all MPs elect me the PM it will send a good message across the country and India will progress each passing day," Khan said.

Khan said that even his party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav will support his candidature for the Prime Minister's post. "When the time comes, Mulayam Singh will propose my name," he said.

When asked about his posters being put up in Lucknow demanding his elevation to the post of deputy chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, he said, "You are insulting me. I want to be become the Prime Minister and I deserve to hold the post. That's why I have removed posters of me becoming deputy chief minister."

Reminded that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav had recently floated the idea of Mulayam Singh Yadav as Prime Minister and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi as the deputy Prime Minister at an event in Delhi, Mr Khan said, "I'm the fittest person to become the Prime Minister of the Country and I aspire to be the Prime Minister."

On the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raids at the office of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's Principal Secretary Rajender Kumar, Mr Khan said, "The central government and the BJP have shown disrespect to political beliefs... Everyone knows that it's a bias action... I think there should not be raids at office of any chief minister of the country without prior permission."