Former president Pranab Mukherjee's daughter Sharmistha Mukherjee on Sunday rebutted Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut's claim that the RSS could project her father as prime minister candidate for 2019 elections, in case the BJP fails to get numbers. "Mr Raut, after retiring as President of India, my father is NOT going to enter into active politics again," Sharmistha Mukherjee, who is also a Congress leader, tweeted.
"We feel the RSS is preparing itself for a situation where it might put forth Pranab Mukherjee's name as Prime Minister candidate if the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fails to get required numbers," Raut told news agencies.
"In any case, BJP will lose a minimum of 110 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections," Raut claimed.
Raut's comments came a day after Sena, in its mouthpiece Saamana, said that the RSS may be preparing the ground to prop up Pranab as a consensus candidate in case majority alludes Narendra Modi in 2019. There is talk in Delhi about such an agenda being behind the invitation to the Congress veteran to deliver a speech at an RSS event in Nagpur, said an edit in Saamna.
