NEW DELHI (TIP): Despite a majority of leaders at the Congress Working Committee meet pushing for Rahul Gandhi to be made the party’s prime ministerial candidate, the party demurred from the decision and instead decided to appoint him the poll campaign chief. “We had one major resolution that has to be passed tomorrow and all the issues in it were discusses…The Congress President and Vice President placed their views on the resolution,” Congress spokesperson Janardan Dwivedi told reporters, refusing to disclose all its contents.

“Many of the members in the CWC wanted that he (Rahul) should be made the Prime ministerial candidate but after some debate Congress president Sonia Gandhi intervened,” he said. “She said that there was no such tradition in the Congress. If someone declares their PM candidate it doesn’t mean that we have to do the same,” Dwivedi said. He said that Sonia had endorsed making Rahul Gandhi the head of the party’s campaign in the upcoming elections. “The resolution in today’s meeting says: ‘This meeting of the AICC declares that the campaign of the elections will be headed by Rahul Gandhi’,” he said. Rahul Gandhi said that he would do everything to strengthen the party and that he would do anything that the party sought of him, Dwivedi said.

“Rahulji said the decision on other matters will be taken at the appropriate time,” he said. Sources said that Rahul had himself said that he didn’t want to be the party’s prime ministerial candidate and was backed by the top brass of the party on his decision, including by Sonia Gandhi. The Congress leader is to be appointed the party’s poll committee chief at the AICC meet tomorrow, thus making him the face of the party’s campaign, but not pitting him in a direct race against the BJP‘s Narendra Modi. In a recent interview, Rahul had said that he was willing to accept any responsibility for the party which had been interpreted by some as saying he was set to be the party’s prime ministerial candidate.