Gandhi ready to serve as Indian PM candidate

India's Rahul Gandhi said on Tuesday that he was open to leading the ruling Congress Party into elections this year in his strongest hint yet that he is ready to be named as a prime ministerial candidate.

The 43-year-old heir of the Nehru-Gandhi family, which has dominated India's post-independence politics, is typically evasive when asked about his plans and future role.

But in a rare interview granted to the Hindi-language Dainik Bhaskar newspaper, he indicated that he was ready to bow to pressure within his party to project him formally as a leader-in-waiting.

"Just as at present, I will take up whatever responsibility is given to me by my party in the future and do it diligently to the best of my abilities," he said.

His comments come only days before a meeting on Friday of the Congress Party's top leaders where he is expected to be named their prime ministerial nominee for national elections in May.

The Congress Party is lagging badly in the polls after two terms in power due to a resurgent Hindu nationalist Bharitiya Janata Party and the upstart anti-corruption Aam Aadmi Party.

Gandhi, widely portrayed as a reluctant leader whose refusal of the political spotlight has frustrated colleagues, maintains a low-profile in and outside of Parliament, where he is a member.

He dismissed the charge that he hesitated to take responsibility and was asked about his comment in January 2013 when he described power as "poison".

"'Power is poison' doesn't mean that I am not keen to take responsibility. I don't have the word 'reluctance' in my life," he said.

Gandhi's father, grandmother and great-grandfather were all prime ministers of India, while his Italian-born mother is the current president of the Congress Party.

His main opponent as prime ministerial candidate would be Bharitiya Janata Party leader Narendra Modi, a business-friendly reformist from the western state of Gujarat whose links to anti-Muslim riots in 2002 remain controversial.

Gandhi also ruled out any significant role for his younger sister Priyanka, who is reported to have attended recent party meetings.

"As an active Congress worker, she is helping me strengthen the party. But I don't think she will have any electoral role," he said.