No need for debate on Opposition's prime ministerial candidate: NCP

NCP (Image Courtesy: NCP)

The NCP on Monday said the Congress has declared that opposition parties would pick their prime ministerial candidate post the general polls if they were to form government, so there was no need to debate the issue.

The Sharad Pawar-led party's remark came a day after DMK president M K Stalin pitched to make Congress chief Rahul Gandhi as the next prime minister of the country in case the opposition parties form an alliance government in 2019.

"The Congress itself has declared it (the prime minister) will be decided after the (Lok Sabha poll) results," NCP national spokesperson Nawab Malik said.

He said it was good to see that Stalin supported Gandhi.

"But when the Congress and other like-minded parties themselves have talked about it, there is no point in debating the issue now. All parties will take the decision after polls," Malik added.

In a dramatic assertion, Stalin had on Sunday vowed to make Gandhi the country's next prime minister and lauded the latter for having the ability to defeat the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre.

He was speaking at a rally followed by the unveiling of a bronze statue of DMK patriarch and his father late M Karunanidhi at party headquarters Anna Arivalayam in Chennai.

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram had earlier maintained that the party never "officially" said its president Rahul Gandhi should be the prime minister if an opposition alliance formed the next government.

The decision on who would be the prime minister in the event of an opposition alliance winning next year's Lok Sabha poll will be taken by its constituents, he had said.