'I AM NOT FOOLISH"

P CHIDAMBARAM ON HIS BECOMING PRIME MINISTER 'I AM NOT FOOLISH" Finance Minister P Chidambaram may have dismissed reports of his becoming the Prime Minister in the wake of DMK chief M Karunanidhi’s statement that he could be the first “dhoti clad PM”. But his two comments – first on a serious note and second in a lighter vein –are set to add more fuel to the fire to the on-going speculations. When asked P Chidambaram said, “I know my limitations and I stay within my limitation.” Then he paused and added, “ That's my serious answer to your question. And on a lighter note I must tell you, I know some of you think I am foolish. But I am not so foolish.” Everybody laughed present at the press conference. But this hardly helped in containing speculation of his rising graph within the Congress and the government. Speculations have been rife for quite sometime that PC could be UPA-III choice for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi has made it clear that he won't like to lead the government without the Congress getting a reasonable majority on its own. The way coalition governments had to function and compromise, it would be better for him to wok for the party. He will rather work hard to strengthen the party in states like UP. It was in this context that PC has emerged as the Congress choice for the UPA-III. Even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has signaled that he won’t like to lead the coalition for the third term. Today, was the first occasion when he was put a direct questions and he gave a diplomatic answer rather than a straight No.