Congress Will Not Insist On Prime Minister's Post: Azad

Sonia said to have reached out to potential allies for meet on govt. formation

- Sandeep Phukan

The Congress is not averse to offering the post of Prime Minister to the leader of a regional party, amid reports that former Congress president Sonia Gandhi has reached out to potential allies for a meeting on May 23 to discuss government formation in case of a hung verdict.

“My party high command has already made it clear that the Congress is not averse to making a leader from any regional party the Prime Minister,” Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad told reporters in Shimla on Thursday. His statement comes barely 24 hours after he had said the Congress “will not make an issue” if the post was not offered to the party. “We are not going to make it an issue that we [the Congress] will not let any other [leader] to become the Prime Minister if it is not offered to us,” Mr. Azad said late on Wednesday evening in Patna.