Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday said senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi should become the Prime Minister of the country.

His statement came even as some within INDIA bloc have pitched for Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge to become the Prime Ministerial face of the alliance for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

"Only Congress party has the strength to address problems of this country.....for that, Rahul Gandhi should become the Prime Minister of the country," Siddaramaiah said.

Addressing Congress' 139th foundation day event here, he said, "Nobody in the country had done something like the Bharat Jodo Yatra. Now, he (Rahul Gandhi) is taking up a Bharat Jodo Yatra's second version - the Nyay Yatra. That's because not everyone has got justice in the country." "Everyone in the country -- backward classes, Dalits, minorities and women -- should get justice, hence this Yatra is being undertaken by Rahul Gandhi," he added.

Asking the Congress workers whether someone like Rahul Gandhi or Narendra Modi come to power, Siddaramaiah said, "forgetting all our differences, for the sake of the country, to protect the Constitution, to save the country's multiculturalism and sovereignty, and to provide justice to everyone, we must fight together and bring Congress back to power." Ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha polls too, Siddaramaiah had pitched for Rahul Gandhi as PM.

Noting that some people talk of soft Hindutva, the CM said, "Hindutva is Hindutva. I'm an Hindu. Hindu and Hindutva are different...... Haven't we built Ram temples in our villages? Don't we worship Rama and do bhajans? I too used to go for bhajans in our village....Aren't we Hindus? We are also Hindus."

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