Rahul Gandhi, heir to the Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty and widely seen as a premier-in-waiting, said Thursday he had no regrets about refusing a cabinet post in India's new government. Gandhi, the 38-year-old son of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, was widely credited in the Indian media with pulling in millions of first-time voters to secure the party's resounding election victory.
After the win, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, 76, had made it clear that a ministerial post was Gandhi's for the taking. But Gandhi said he wanted to focus on the task of building the party and democratising India's political system - long the preserve of the wealthy and the well-connected.
"I want to work for the Congress party because I believe in doing one thing at a time. I do not believe in doing six jobs at one time," Gandhi told reporters. "I cannot do justice to it (a ministerial portfolio)," he said, after Singh swore in a second batch of ministers on Thursday.
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