If Kamala Harris can be US V-P, why couldn’t Sonia be Indian PM? BJP ally Athawale asks

Comparing Sonia Gandhi to Kamala Harris who recently became Vice-President of the US, Union minister Ramdas Athawale asked on Saturday why the Congress president couldn’t have become prime minister when the UPA first came to power in 2004.

He told reporters in Indore that Gandhi’s “foreign origin” issue was meaningless as she is an Indian citizen and a Lok Sabha member. “When the UPA got a majority in the 2004 elections, I had proposed that Sonia Gandhi should become Prime Minister. If Kamala Harris can become Vice-President of the US, then why couldn’t Sonia Gandhi, a citizen of India, wife of Rajiv Gandhi (former PM) and elected Lok Sabha MP, couldn’t become the Prime Minister?” Athawale said.

Not wanting to become the PM back in 2004, Gandhi had chosen Manmohan Singh to lead the nation. But, Athawale said, she should have given the top post to veteran leader and NCP chief Sharad Pawar, who could have saved the Congress from the position it is in nowadays.

Pawar was expelled from the Congress for raising the issue of Gandhi’s foreign origin in 1999. He later formed the NCP, which is now allied with the Congress and Shiv Sena in Maharashtra.

The Congress’ fortunes have dipped ever since the BJP swept to power in India in 2014.

“When the Congress was in majority, she (Gandhi) was the capable candidate to come to power. But now, the party cannot grow under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi,” Athawale said on Saturday.

Athawale – president of the Republican Party of India which is an ally of the BJP – further appealed to Congressman Amarinder Singh, who recently quit as Punjab chief minister owing to a power tussle in the state party unit, to join the BJP or NDA. “If Singh joins the BJP, the party’s position will be strengthened in the upcoming Assembly elections in Punjab,” he said.

Athawale also had some advice for the Shiv Sena. “Nowadays, the Shiv Sena is being targeted by the Congress, so the party can form a coalition with my party. Following this, (Shiv Sena chief) Uddhav Thackeray and (BJP’s Devendra) Fadnavis can assume the post of chief minister for 2.5 years each. If they both do not agree, then I can become the chief minister,” he said.

(With inputs from Agencies)

Also read: What anguished Amarinder wrote to Sonia Gandhi before resigning