After Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Sunday became the latest from the UPA camp to acknowledge that BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi was indeed a factor in the elections. He didn’t shy away from saying that the Congress considers Modi a “challenger”.
“As a political party, we acknowledge that he (Modi) is a challenger. We cannot ignore him. He is a candidate fielded by the principal Opposition party. We have to take note of him,” he said during an interaction at an event currently on in Goa. It’s the first such admission by one of the senior most Cabinet Ministers of the Congress-led UPA Government.
His candid remarks come close on the heels of Omar Abdullah’s acknowledgment that there was a “Modi-effect” in the elections. “It would be wrong on our part to deny any influence of Modi in the elections — I cannot say there is a Modi wave but there is effect of Modi. That effect may not be on the average voter but it is visible on cadres of BJP. What impact it will have on elections let us wait and watch,” Omar told reporters recently. He, however, said terming it as a “Modi wave” is a bit of an exaggeration.
For his part, Chidambaram too went on to add that as an individual he is concerned about his (Modi’s) ideology, philosophy and the kind of language he has been using in public rallies. “So far he (Modi) is extremely opaque. So far he has not spoken on any of the major issues. He has just made election promises,” Chidambaram said.
But at the same time, the Finance Minister also did not seem to be too impressed with Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s public speeches. He said Rahul Gandhi has been addressing various public rallies “but if I was advising him (Rahul), I would have advised him to spell out his views on various major issues (in the rallies)”.
He said the rank and file of Congress party feels that Rahul Gandhi should be the leader of the party and leader of the Government, if it is voted to power in the forthcoming general election. “As far as my personal opinion is concerned, I feel that the time has come to hand over the torch to the younger generation,” Chidambaram pointed out.
“There are enough young men and women in the country who can take part in the Government and provide good governance,” he said.
When questioned why Congress leaders — including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh — have not been commenting on major issues, Finance Minister said, “The PM does address audience and addresses Press conferences, although it is not as much as I expect him to do. You can agree or disagree with what he speaks but certainly he speaks.”