Rahul not looking to be PM, for 3 decades no Gandhi family member occupied the post: Sachin Pilot

By A Representative
Even as "predicting" that the Congress will lead the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) to victory during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, senior Congress leader known to be close to party president Rahul Gandhi, Sachin Pilot, has given clear indications that Rahul may give up his claim for Prime Ministership for the sake of opposition unity.
"In the last 30 years, no one in the Gandhi family has occupied the position of a Prime Minister, Chief Minister or a Minister. I don’t think Rahulji is now looking to occupy the top position. He is building the party, he is taking on the challenge of the BJP, and we don’t know what the future holds”, he underlined.
“The Congress will lead an opposition alliance but who will occupy what position, time will tell,” Pilot, who is in Melbourne, said in an interview to South Asia Times (SAT) editor Neeraj Nanda. Pilot, along with another senior party leader, Milind Deora, were attending a meet -and -greet event organized by the Indian Overseas Congress, Australia.
According to the SAT report, the two Congress leaders’ visit is being seen as a continuation of the earlier visit by well-known NRI technocrat Sam Pitroda, aimed at revitalizing the Congress amongst the large Indian diaspora in Australia. Pilot said, “The current Modi-led NDA regime is incompetent to rule and we have got a whole policy framework as an alternative; in 2019 there will be a UPA plus plus government."
Commenting on the lynching incidents in India, Pilot said, “There are laws in the country including on cow slaughter. If anyone violates those laws the due process of law should take its own course. But it cannot be that on mere suspicion you attack and kill people in broad daylight. Those convicted in lynching are being garlanded by political leaders. This our country cannot afford to have."
When asked why was the Congress is not launching a nationwide agitation on the lynching issue, Pilot said, “We have taken it to the task. It is not just a Congress issue, but a human issue. As a political party, we are opposed to any sort of violence. It’s a law and order issue, the state governments are supposed to look after it."
"The Congress and its President Rahul Gandhi have taken up the issue in the Parliament. We have protested against the violent nature of our politics and the people of India are seeing this happening and will give a befitting reply to it in the 2019 elections.There were anti-social elements before also but these elements now have the courage to do these acts. The incumbent government will have to give a big price for it", he added.
The view is strong in the Congress that a united Congress-led opposition before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections does not look a distant possibility. QIf the Congress is ready to give up the claim on party president Rahul as the prime ministerial nominee, more opposition parties may join hands to pose a bigger challenge to the BJP-led NDA.
Pilot's statement acquires significance against the backdrop of the strong view among circles around Rahul that most of the opposition parties till now were reluctant to align with the Congress with Rahul Gandhi as the prime ministerial nominee. As and when Gandhi's candidacy for the PM's post was raked up, most of the Opposition parties kept away from joining chorus with the Congress.
While in May, campaigning for the Karnataka Assembly elections, Gandhi claimed that he would be the prime minister in 2019 if his party gets maximum seats, according to this view,that declaration met with a bleak approval not just from the non-NDA and non-UPA parties but also from the Congress itself.
Not without significance, three crucial opposition parties which would matter in 2019, such as Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP), Mayawati-headed Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Lalu Prasads Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), prevaricated on extending support to the Congress with Rahul as the PM candidate.
After all, the three parties hold significance for the Congress because it has aligned with them in the last Uttar Pradesh and Bihar Assembly elections in 2017 and 2015 respectively. Moreover, the two states together account for a whopping 120 of the 543 Lok Sabha seats (22 per cent).
Meanwhile, among those leaders who are said to be keen on being projected as PM candidate include Lalu Prasad Yadav's son Tejashwi Yadav, BSP's Mayawati, and Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav.
The issue of Gandhi as PM again became the talking point in political circles when the Congress' highest decision-making body, Congress Working Committee (CWC), met on July 22 and ratified the decision.
While several Congress leaders approved it, barring Congress alliance partner in Karnataka, the Janata Dal (Secular), no other party came forward to support it. These included West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandra Babu Naidu, NCP chief Sharad Pawar.
This led the Congress to suggest on July 24 that Congress that it would support any candidate who would not be backed by the Sangh parivar or the ruling BJP.

Comments

The golden crop: How turmeric is transforming women's lives in tribal India

By Vikas Meshram* When the lush green fields of turmeric sway in the tribal belt of southern Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat, it is not merely a spice crop — it is the golden glow of self-reliance. In villages where even basic spices once had to be bought from the market, the very soil today is yielding a prosperity that has transformed the lives of thousands of families. At the heart of this transformation is the initiative of Vaagdhara, which has linked turmeric with livelihoods, nutrition, and village self-governance — gram swaraj.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Authoritarian destruction of the public sphere in Ecuador: Trumpism in action?

By Pilar Troya Fernández The situation in Ecuador under Daniel Noboa's government is one of authoritarianism advancing on several fronts simultaneously to consolidate neoliberalism and total submission to the US international agenda. These are not isolated measures, but rather a coordinated strategy that combines job insecurity, the dismantling of the welfare state, unrestricted access to mining, the continuation of oil exploitation without environmental considerations, the centralization of power through the financial suffocation of local governments, and the systematic criminalization of all forms of opposition and popular organization.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Rajiv Shah Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Echoes of Vietnam and Chile: The devastating cost of the I-A Axis in Iran

By Ram Puniyani The recent joint military actions by Israel and the United States against Iran have been devastating. Like all wars, this conflict is brutal to its core, leaving a trail of human suffering in its wake. The stated pretext for this aggression—the brutality of the Ayatollah Khamenei regime and its nuclear ambitions—clashes sharply with the reality of the diplomatic landscape. Iran had expressed a willingness to remain at the negotiating table, signaling a readiness to concede points emerging from dialogue.

False claim? What Venezuela is witnessing is not surrender but a tactical retreat

By Manolo De Los Santos The early morning hours of January 3, 2026, marked an inflection point in Venezuela and Latin America’s centuries-long struggle for self-determination and independence. Operation Absolute Resolve, ordered by the Trump administration, constituted the most brutal and direct military assault on a sovereign state in the region in recent memory. In a shocking operation that left hundreds dead, President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores were illegally kidnapped from Venezuelan soil and transported to the United States, where they now face fabricated charges in a New York federal detention facility. In the two months since this act of war, a torrent of speculation has emerged from so-called experts and pundits across the political spectrum. This has followed three main lines: One . The operation’s success indicated treason at the highest levels of the Bolivarian Revolution. Two . Acting President Delcy Rodríguez and the remaining leadership have abandone...

The selective memory of a violent city: Uttam Nagar and the invisible victims of Delhi

By Sunil Kumar* Hundreds of murders take place in Delhi every year, yet only a few incidents become topics of nationwide discussion. The question is: why does this happen? Today, the incident in Uttam Nagar has become the centre of national debate. A 26-year-old man, Tarun Kumar, was killed following a dispute that reportedly began after a balloon hit a small child. In several colonies of Delhi, slogans such as “Jai Shri Ram” and “Vande Mataram” are being raised while demanding the death penalty for Tarun’s killers. As a result, nearly 50,000 residents of Hastsal JJ Colony are now living in what resembles a state of confinement.

The price of silence: Why Modi won’t follow Shastri, appeal for sacrifice

By Arundhati Dhuru, Sandeep Pandey* In 1965, as India grappled with war and a crippling food crisis, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri faced a United States that used wheat shipments under the PL-480 agreement as a lever to dictate Indian foreign policy. Shastri’s response remains legendary: he appealed to the nation to skip one meal a day. Millions of middle-class households complied, choosing temporary hunger over the sacrifice of national dignity. Today, India faces a modern equivalent in the energy sector, yet the leadership’s response stands in stark contrast to that era of self-reliance.

Love letters in a lifelong war: Babusha Kohli’s resistance in verse

By Ravi Ranjan* “War does not determine who is right—only who is left.” Bertrand Russell’s words echo hauntingly in our times, and few contemporary Hindi poets embody this truth as profoundly as Babusha Kohli. Emerging from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, Kohli has carved a unique space in literature by weaving together tenderness, protest, and philosophy across poetry, prose, and cinema. Her work is not merely artistic expression—it is resistance, refuge, and a call for peace.

Search This Blog