New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today (May 15, 2004) said it would be "unfortunate" if Sonia Gandhi is made the country's Prime Minister and asserted that it will keep a "close watch" on all issues of national importance.

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Political Parties in India

"The Congress is free to elect any person as its leader but it would be unfortunate if no person is found eligible from among the 100 crore population to become the Prime Minister and she is elevated to the post," party general secretary and spokesman Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said in a statement here following Gandhi's unanimous election as leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP).

"Our best wishes are with the new Government but we will keep a close watch on all issues of national importance," he said.

Despite the stunning verdict against the party, BJP president M Venkaiah Naidu had yesterday asserted that the party continued to believe that high Constitutional posts should not be held by people of foreign origin.