Hyderabad: Senior Congress leader Jagga Reddy strongly countered Union home minister Amit Shah’s remarks that Rahul Gandhi would never become Prime Minister, asserting that the BJP leader had no right to decide who could or could not occupy the country’s highest elected office.Jagga Reddy said the people of India alone had the authority to decide who should become Prime Minister. “If Rahul Gandhi wants to become Prime Minister, the people of this country can make him PM. No one has the right to dictate the choice of voters,” he said.He predicted that Congress would win 14 seats out of 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana.Addressing the media, Jagga Reddy said Prime Minister’s post was closely associated with the Gandhi family’s political legacy and recalled that Rahul Gandhi had opportunities to become Prime Minister but had chosen not to pursue the position. He pointed out that after the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, Congress president Sonia Gandhi led UPA to power and party MPs had expressed support for her and Rahul Gandhi to head govt. However, the Congress leadership decided to appoint Dr Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister.Jagga Reddy claimed that even after assuming office, Manmohan Singh had encouraged Rahul Gandhi to take up the top post, but Rahul declined and instead extended his support to Singh’s leadership. He also highlighted welfare measures introduced during the UPA era, including Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, saying the programme had provided relief and livelihood support to millions of people across the country.The Congress leader also accused the BJP of using the name of Lord Rama for political gains while failing to govern according to the ideals associated with the deity. Referring to Mahatma Gandhi’s devotion to “Raghupati Raghava Raja Ram,” he argued that reverence for Lord Rama existed long before BJP came into existence.He asserted that the upcoming elections would provide an appropriate response to what he described as Amit Shah’s “arrogant” remarks against Rahul Gandhi.
