Naidu says he is not in the running to be prime minister

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and United Front convenor Nara Chandrababu Naidu says he is not in the race for the prime ministership.

''Not only hundred per cent, but one thousand per cent I am not a candidate,'' Naidu told reporters in Hyderabad.

Asked if he would don the premier's mantle if the UF formed the government, Naidu said, ''I have certain commitments to my home state and some duties I want to discharge there.'' However, he added, ''I will play my due role in national politics.''

The chief minister admitted that ''there are differences of opinion on certain issues within the Front, but it does not mean we are not united.''

He refused to subscribe to the view that a meeting of the Federal Front was testimony to the internal strains in the United Front. "The Federal Front is part of the United Front," he said, "and a meeting no way weakens the UF unity."

The Federal Front, he declared, ''is the political future of the country and the main prop of the federal polity."

Naidu said the most "suitable candidate" from among the UF constituents would succeed Deve Gowda. But he declined to say if the leadership change was the main agenda of the UF steering committee meeting, slated for April 17.

The Front, he said, had not send any formal proposal to the Congress on the change in the UF leadership. He also parried a question if the Front was placing any preconditions for Congress support for formation of the next government.

Asserting that the next coalition government at the Centre would be more stable than the Deve Gowda regime, the AP chief minister felt the Congress would be the loser if it again withdrew support to the Front.