New Delhi: Former West Bengal Chief Minister and veteran Communist Party of India – Marxist (CPM) leader Jyoti Basu on August 10 said he supported Sonia Gandhi as a possible Prime Ministerial candidate.

Basu told NDTV that he was wrong in his previous assessment of Sonia Gandhi as a housewife.

"She is an Indian citizen. How can I say she is a foreigner? But I have said, and which is correct, that she was a housewife. Since the 114-year-old Congress couldn't find a leader among themselves, so the Congress chose her. I think she is learning politics," Basu was quoted by a press release from the TV channel as saying.

Asked whether he saw any other Prime Ministerial candidate besides Atal Behari Vajpayee and Sonia Gandhi, Basu, who himself was a candidate for the top job in 1996, said, "No, I don't. Excepting if we come to power. Then we'll find a Prime Minister as we found in Deve Gowda last time".

PTI