AMETHI, Uttar Pradesh — India's ruling Congress party vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday ruled out any possibility of supporting the Third Front to form the next government. Rahul Gandhi, who was campaigning in his parliamentary constituency of Amethi, said his party will get enough seats to form the government on its own. “We will not support a Third Front… we will get the numbers,” Rahul said after being asked whether the party would sit in opposition. Many media reports had earlier reported that Rahul was strongly in favor of sitting in the opposition and rebuilding the organization rather than forming a government with the help of multiple parties. Reacting to Rahul's remarks, Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial nominee Narendra Modi was quoted by a news agency as saying: “They thought even if we lose, we will help the Third Front. Several Congress leaders made such statements. When they realized that it was damaging them, then Rahul “bhaiyya” tried to change it. They are shaken.” On Modi's plan to campaign in Amethi, Rahul said “anyone was free to campaign anywhere.” Rahul, however, did not clarify whether he was planning to go to Varanasi to campaign. Amethi goes to polls on May 7 and Varanasi on May 12. On Priyanka Gandhi Vadra donning a bigger role, Rahul said he would support her in whatever she does. Addressing a rally in his constituency Amethi, Rahul also asked the BJP and Modi to come clean on the source of funds. “They (the BJP) do politics of two-three corporates as they gift them “mota paisa” (hefty money). From where is the money for big cutouts and posters coming,” Gandhi said in the Congress bastion. The BJP's mega campaign has triggered a big debate in this election season, with Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal blaming the saffron brigade for taking the help of big industrialists. Describing the elections as a fight between two ideologies, Gandhi said that while the Congress party wanted to take Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians along, the other side was stoking politics of “anger.” “Their (BJP) leaders used to criticize, abuse and keep poor at bay while we (the Congress party) talk of unity and to take country forward,” Gandhi said.
