WITH youth being the flavour of the season, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday joined the chorus of those pitching for Rahul Gandhi as the Prime Minister. “We do hope... we had a Prime Minister at the age of 40, Rajiv Gandhi. Days are not far off, for Mr Rahul Gandhi may follow the footsteps of his father”, Mukherjee said.

The External Affairs Minister is the latest to join party leaders like Arjun Singh, Digvijay Singh and Veerappa Moily who have said Rahul Gandhi is the future of the party.

However, Arjun was ticked off by Congress while AICC president Sonia Gandhi had at the last Independence Day function at the party headquarters scotched speculation saying Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will unfurl the national flag at the Red Fort if the party was voted back to power.

Mukherjee was replying to a question from a delegate in the Pravasi Baharatiya Diwas on why the country did not have young leadership. The minister recalled how Omar Abdullah, 38, became the Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir.