INDIA’S ruling Congress party is headed for defeat in elections next year and barely one in five voters thinks Rahul Gandhi, its likely candidate, would be the best prime minister, a poll suggested on Friday (January 25).
Rahul Gandhi is widely expected to lead Congress into the polls after being elevated to the post of party vice-president last weekend. His father (Rajiv Gandhi), grandmother (Indira Gandhi) and great-grandfather (Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru) have all served as prime ministers.
In a survey by the magazine India Today, only 22 per cent of voters said Rahul Gandhi would make the best prime minister – well behind Gujarat chief minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) politician Narendra Modi who had a 36-per cent rating.
The same poll showed the Congress and its allies are on course to get 152-162 seats in the 552-seat Lok Sabha while the BJP and its allies were projected to get 198-208 seats.
Modi is widely seen as pushing to lead the party into the polls amid a fierce internal power struggle.
The 42-year-old Gandhi has often appeared less than hungry for power after rejecting repeated requests to take on ministerial responsibilities.
But he is now his party’s official number two behind his mother Sonia and a senior minister said on Wednesday (January 23) that he was the party’s “consensus” choice to be its prime ministerial candidate in elections due early next year.
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, who is 80, is not expected to stand in 2014.
The BJP chose the veteran Rajnath Singh as its new president earlier this week after the scandal-plagued incumbent Nitin Gadkari abruptly resigned.
But analysts expect Modi, who was re-elected as Gujarat chief minister for a third time last month, to launch a bid for the party leadership in the coming months and few expect Rajnath Singh to be the final candidate.
While the survey made grim reading for Congress, it also represents a blow for the BJP as regional parties appear to be the chief beneficiaries of voters’ frustration.
According to government forecasts for the fiscal year ending in March, India’s economy is growing at less than six per cent a year – its worst performance in a decade.
Congress has also been hit by corruption scandals but allegations surrounding Gadkari have also damaged the BJP’s standing, according to the survey of 12,823 people.
