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No visions of being next PM: Rahul Gandhi in UK

Interestingly, the Congress has positioned him as an alternative to Narendra Modi if the party comes to power after the 2019 elections

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Rahul Gandhi during an interaction with journalists in the UK
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Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said that he only sees himself as someone who is "fighting an ideological battle" and does not have visions of becoming the next prime minister. Interacting with the Indian Journalists' Association in London, Gandhi said this change has come to him after 2014. "I realised that there's a risk to Indian state, to the Indian way of doing things and I'm defending that," he said. Interestingly, the Congress has positioned him as an alternative to Narendra Modi if the party comes to power after the 2019 elections. During an interaction session with eminent personalities in Bengaluru in May, Gandhi had said that he would take over as the next prime minister if the Congress emerges as a single largest party in 2019. "Well it depends on how well the Congress party does. If the Congress party is the biggest party, yes," he had said.

After addressing an audience at the London School of Economics, Gandhi told UK-based Indian journalists that he would continue to fight an ideological battle. He is on a four-day visit to Germany and the UK as part of outreach programme by the Congress. Asked about the Triple Talaq Bill, he said that the Congress has an issue only with the criminalisation aspect. "We have an issue with the criminalisation aspect, but we have not stonewalled anything," he said. Gandhi's remarks in London for past two days on various issues have created a furore. He has spoken earlier about the Doklam standoff and lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not raising the matter with the Chinese President Xi Jinping on his informal summit at Wuhan.

Commenting on his own 'privileged' background, Gandhi told journalists that he should be judged by his capability and not be "condemned" for being from the Gandhi family. Asked what he had brought to the job apart from his surname, he urged not be judged without a hearing. "At the end, it's your choice. Do you condemn me for the family I come from, or do you judge me based on my capability. That's your choice. It's up to you, not me," he said.

He urged the audience to talk on issues of foreign policy, economics, Indian development and agriculture instead of raising issues of his family background. "I have been working for 14-15 years in the political system. I have taken a beating and have learnt a lot. I am a person who listens, respects other people's ideas. The most important thing to me is that I see through hate. And I really think, I am proud of that," he said.

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