Sir — This refers to the two news reports “Rahul as PM: Cong wary of partners’ response” (April 13) and “JD(U) insists BJP must declare PM candidate” (April 12). All this debate on prime ministerial candidates is premature. It is not clear that either of the two alliances will get a majority. And even if one of them does, it is not certain that either the Congress or the BJP will have an upper hand.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi’s only qualification is that he belongs to the Nehru-Gandhi family. Therefore, he may not be acceptable as Prime Minister to many others in the UPA. In case of the NDA, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar must understand that the politics of Mandir-Masjid-Mandal-Muslim has outlived its utility. The new planks for electoral success are development and governance — to which Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s successive victories can be justifiably attributed.
The NDA should go to the 2014 election under his leadership and leave alone the prime ministerial candidate issue, which will arise only if it gets a majority. There’s no fun in fighting such quixotic battles.