No prime ministerial ambitions, says Chidambaram

Finance Minister P Chidambaram yet again parried questions on his becoming the Prime Minister saying he has no such aspirations and would like to do party work.

“I have no such expectations. I have no such aspiration and I believe that in the few years that remain to me, I want to do (a) few other things, like travel,” he said when asked whom he would like to choose his Finance Minister after becoming the Prime Minister after 2014 general elections.

“The first part of the question, I reject it out of hand... Therefore, if I reject the first assumption out of hand, the second question does not arise. But I can certainly recommend you and many other names to the new Prime Minister,” he said in a lighter vein.

Answering questions at The Economist’s India Summit here, Mr. Chidambaram said he would like to “remain a worker of the Congress party“.

“I did not have enough opportunity to work at party level, except for brief period when I was general secretary of state Congress party. I want to prove that I can also do party work.

I will love to do party work, but I would do whatever the party asks me to do... I sincerely hope the party will allow me to travel, read and write,” Mr. Chidambaram said.