Chennai, Oct 22 (IANS): The Congress has not officially declared Rahul Gandhi as its prime ministerial candidate in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in which its main objective is to defeat the BJP and usher in a progressive government at the Centre, senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram has said.

"Congress has not officially declared Rahul Gandhi as its Prime Ministerial candidate. On the contrary, when two or three persons (in the party) spoke about, the AICC denied it and told people not to speak about it," he told Tamil TV channel News18.

The former Union Finance Minister said the question of prime ministership was not an issue at all for the Congress party.

"Rahul Gandhi has not said this. The Congress has not said it wants to bring a person as prime minister. We will decide on the issue (of PM) once the alliance wins and the alliance partners will sit and decide on it," he said.

Chidambaram said the main objective for the Congress was removal of the Bharatiya Janata Party government and ushering in a progressive government that does not take away human rights, does not threaten people and does not indulge in tax terrorism against traders and entrepreneurs but provide security to women and children and give a fair and remunerative price to farmers for the farm produce and to farm workers.