'Rahul Gandhi will give tough fight to BJP in 2019', says Shiv Sena

The Shiv Sena attacked Bharatiya Janata Party over Rahul Gandhi's Prime Minister ambition and said that it was the Congress president's democratic right to express his stand and no one should make fun of it. It also said that the Congress president would give a tough fight to BJP in 2019 elections.

On May 10, in an editorial in the Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana', the party raised questions on the BJP about the decisions being made without discussing it with the allies. Shiv Sena also said Rahul Gandhi will give a tough fight to BJP in 2019.

In a break from the past, a confident Rahul Gandhi pitched himself as the PM in 2019 if his party emerges as the single largest party. "I'm convinced that Narendra Modi won't be the PM in 2019," Gandhi said. This is the second time in nine months that the Congress president has spoken on these lines.

Attacking Congress President over his 'ready to become Prime Minister' remark, Modi said, "Yesterday he (Rahul Gandhi) says he wants to be Prime Minister. He declared himself to be Prime Minister in 2019... does this not show that his level of arrogance has reached the seventh heaven."

(with PTI inputs)