Doing a delicate balancing act, Congress on Friday said it was up to Rahul Gandhi [Images] to decide the timing of assuming the leadership of the country but at the same time Prime Minister Manmohan Singh [Images] has done 'done well on every front'.

A day after External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the days are not far off for the young leader to follow the footsteps of his father to become the prime minister, Congress spokesman Shakeel Ahmed told media persons in New Delhi [Images], "It is true that Rahul Gandhi has all the qualifications, which are necessary to lead the country. All feel that way. But he (Rahul) has to decide on when and how (to take on the leadership mantle)."

Ahmed's remarks came in reply to a question whether Rahul would take over the leadership after the next Lok Sabha election.

At the same time, Ahmed was ambivalent on the issue of projecting anyone as PM in the next elections and wanted the media to desist from creating a conflict.

He recalled that party chief Sonia Gandhi [Images] had, at the last Independence Day function at the party headquarters, said Manmohan Singh will unfurl the national flag at the Red Fort [Images] if the party was voted back to power.

Ahmed said, "We have Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who has done so well in the last over four-and-a-half years on every front."

Asked whether there was a 'war' in the party to declare the Amethi MP as the future PM and whether the party wanted to 'ease out' Dr Singh, Ahmed said: "There is no war. What the Congress President has said, the party stands by that."

The spokesman said it is true that Rahul has attracted the younger generation to the party 'but this does not mean that you (media) misinterpret it and create a dispute'.

In an obvious reference to senior party leader Arjun Singh [Images] who had last year said there was no harm in Rahul being projected as the PM candidate of the party, Ahmed said: "He (Singh) is a respected leader." He dismissed suggestions that the AICC had at that time dubbed the HRD Minister as a 'sycophant'.

"We had merely said that if every leader started making such statements, an atmosphere of sycophancy is created".

"It (leadership issue) should not be projected in a way as if people are unhappy with the prime minister," Ahmed said.

He said the party has a guardian in Sonia Gandhi and all in Congress accept what she says.

Ahmed said it is a 'simple fact' that Rahul has all the qualities to lead the country and only time will tell when and how.