BJP dares Congress to name its candidate for PM's post

BJP on Sunday dared Congress to announce its Prime Ministerial candidate ahead of the next general elections.

To a query from a reporter in Rajkot as to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's chances of becoming the BJP candidate for the PM's post, the party's general secretary Ananth Kumar said, "BJP has several persons who can become PM. What does Congress have? Congress has no names. It should first announce its candidate, BJP would announce its candidate at the time of the general elections."

Kumar was here to take part in the party's campaign against the Centre-appointed interlocutors' report on Kashmir issue.

He also targeted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over his recent foreign tours, saying that the Prime Minister was "invisible" here and visible only abroad.

Four "economists", namely, Dr Manmohan Singh, P Chidambaram, Pranab Mukherjee and Montek Singh Ahluwalia had ruined the economy, Kumar said.

"Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said that government will announce certain measures to improve the country's economy, which is unfortunate...after being in power for over seven years, UPA leaders have realised that economy has become weak."

He also alleged that Centre was doing injustice to Gujarat, especially with regard to CNG quota.