Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday said that Congress General Secretary for eastern Uttar Pradesh Priyanka Gandhi would be a perfect choice for the party’s president post, PTI reported. He also claimed that Gandhi would get full-fledged support if she was chosen to take up the role.

“Priyanka will be a perfect choice to take over the party reins but it will all depend on the Congress Working Committee, which alone is authorised to take a decision in the matter,” PTI quoted Singh as saying. He said that the since India was a young nation, it will respond to a young leader.

The Punjab chief minister also lamented that former Congress President Rahul Gandhi had decided to resign from the post. Singh’s comments came after Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, in a statement, said that Priyanka Gandhi would make a good party president with her “natural charisma”.

The Congress required a dynamic young leader to rebuild it after the recent Lok Sabha elections, Singh said. “She has the intelligence and instinct to understand and relate to the needs of the nation, and also has the courage to take on any challenge and take the fight to victory,” the chief minister said.

He also said that since Rahul Gandhi has refused to withdraw his resignation, Priyanka Gandhi would be a “good bet” to replace him. Earlier in the month, Singh had said that “another dynamic youth leader” should take over from Rahul Gandhi as the party’s chief after the former Congress president tendered his resignation.

Rahul Gandhi had offered to step down as Congress president on May 25, following the party’s poll debacle in the General Elections. The party had managed to win only 52 of 543 parliamentary seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Despite attempts of leaders across party lines to convince him to stay on as president, he finally sent in his resignation on July 3.