New Delhi, Jan 14 (PTI): Ahead of the AICC meeting on Friday when he is expected to be named the Congress Prime Ministerial candidate, Rahul Gandhi today appeared ready to take up the responsibility.
"I am a sepoy of Congress.I will obey whatever order is given to me. I will do whatever Congress wants me to do... Decisions are taken in our party by senior leaders," he told Hindi daily 'Dainik Bhaskar' in an interview.
"Earlier also some decisions were taken...Power is poison ....does not mean that I am not keen to take responsibility. There is no word of reluctance in my life...Congress has never been specific. Whatever task the Congress wanted me to accomplish, I have done that," Gandhi said when asked whether he was ready to take up the post of Prime Minister and about perceptions of him being reluctant.
Gandhi's remarks at the party's Chintan Shivir in Jaipur in January last year that his mother Sonia Gandhi had told him that power is poison had led to speculation as well Opposition attack that the Congress Vice President was not willing to take up responsibility.
Explaining his remarks, he said, "Power is poison is an observation that when power comes, one should know how to deal with the associated dangers that come with it. This is it. Power is poison means use power for the welfare of people and do not use it to make oneself bigger or more powerful".
To a direct question on whether he will accept any such responsibility, Gandhi said, "None of my family members ever worked for the sake of power. Neither my father nor my grandmother."
Gandhi's father Rajiv Gandhi and grandmother Indira Gandhi were both Prime Ministers of the country.
"We are a democratic organisation. We have faith in democracy. The people of India will decide through their elected representatives, who will be the Prime Minister of the country. It is necessary for Congress to come to power in the interests of the nation and for that whatever responsibility the organisation has given me or will give me, I will carry out that with full dedication," he said.
Slamming the BJP for its "Congress-free India" pitch, he said, "BJP today wants a personality-oriented rule, which is not in the interests of the country. The country should not be governed according to thinking of a particular person and his ways. The future of 120 crore people can be shaped up and improved only by taking everybody along."