India's Congress party reaches consensus on PM post

India's Congress Party said on Friday there was consensus among its coalition partners to allow Congress leader Sonia Gandhi to become the next prime minister.

"There is a consensus on it. The allies have been saying it. They have been saying, 'you elect your leader and we will support it'," Oscar Fernandes, Congress general secretary, told reporters in New Delhi.

Gandhi held talks on Friday with the allies to discuss the formation of a new government after they have won the general elections, ousting the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by its veteran leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Congress MPs meet on Saturday to formally choose their parliamentary leader. Although the NDA campaigned against the governance of India by a woman of foreign origin, voters overwhelmingly rejected this as a major concern.