Union Minister Ramdas Athawale said on Tuesday that there was no question of Congress chief Rahul Gandhi becoming the prime minister after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as the 'Modi wave', signifying popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is likely to continue for another 10-15 years.
Taking a dig at Gandhi's remark that if the Congress emerges as the single-largest party after the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, he would become the prime minister, Athawale said there was no question of that happening.
"Modi wave will sweep all elections in future because he (Modi) believes in taking along all sections of society," the Union minister of state for social justice and empowerment said.
Pitching for giving quota to people in the general category on lines of SC/ST and OBC quota, he said the reservation percentage should be increased from 49.5 to 75 per cent to include castes, which do not fall into creamy layer category.
He said he was in favour of people getting reservation benefits in promotions, for which the Centre will soon bring in a legislation.
Athawale said BSP chief Mayawati should support the BJP if she wants to do something for dalits.
Athawale had allied with a variety of political forces, including the Congress-led UPA before cozying up to the BJP in 2011 though he had previously been critical of it and the RSS. Interestingly, Athawale had claimed in late March that a BSP-SP alliance in Uttar Pradesh could cost the BJP nearly 30 seats in the next Lok Sabha polls, though he added no one could challenge Modi's position.