Rahul Gandhi needs to be more communicative: Digvijay Singh

Congress leader Digvijay Singh today hinted that Congress may announce its prime ministerial candidate before the Lok Sabha elections and suggested that Rahul Gandhi should be more communicative.

"We want Rahul Gandhi to be interacting more with media, people of industry... He has to open up more. He has to be more hands on. The earlier the better," he said when asked whether the Congress Vice-President should be more communicative.

Singh, however, brushed aside questions on Rahul losing appeal among people, saying the party had won elections in Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand where he had campaigned.

"Did you ask this question when Narendra Modi campaigned in Karnataka, Himachal, Uttarakhand," he asked.

When questioned whether Congress would announce its prime ministerial candidate ahead of the polls next year, he replied in the affirmative saying this was reflected in the statement of party president Sonia Gandhi yesterday.

After the drubbing Congress received in the elections in four states, Gandhi had said that the name of the prime ministerial candidate would be announced at at opportune time.

"You can't have PM candidate after election. It has to be earlier than that," he said.

Speaking to news channels, Singh admitted there was an anti-Congress wave, but claimed that it was confined to some of the states where assembly elections were held recently.

He said it was a challenge for Congress to re-connect with people, but expressed hope about the party returning to power in 2014, though he termed the prospect as "more difficult".