Kharge or Rahul likely to be PM pick, feels Shashi Tharoor

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Congress Working Committee member Shashi Tharoor said he feels the party could nominate either its chief Mallikarjun Kharge or former AICC president Rahul Gandhi as Prime Minister if the INDIA alliance comes to power in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Tharoor said there could be a surprise result in the election next year as there is an opposition coalition and there are chances of the INDIA alliance coming to power at the Centre by trouncing the BJP-led NDA in the general elections.

'So we'll have to wait and see,'' he said while interacting with professionals of a US-based and Silicon Valley-incubated D2C (Direct-to-Consumer) marketplace Way.com after inaugurating its office at Technopark here on Monday.

Talking about the post-poll scenario, he said, ''I think that once the result comes out, then because it's a coalition and not one party, the leaders of those parties will have to get together and pick someone. But my guess is that from the Congress Party, it's going to be either Mr. Kharge, who then will be the first Dalit prime minister of India, or Rahul Gandhi, since in very many ways it (Congress) is a family-run party.''

Tharoor, who is a former union minister, said the Prime Minister is the first among equals, and he was confident in his ability to perform whatever responsibilities may be assigned to him.