Badaun: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday committed a major faux pas after making an erroneous statement that Rahul Gandhi was India's Prime Minister while commenting on the country's progress during Congress regime.

Addressing a public meeting in Uttar Pradesh's Badaun for Amla Lok Sabha seat, Singh said India is gaining strength on all fronts and is progressing very fast compared to what it was during the Congress's regime. He also tried to draw a comparison between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Congress PMs of the past.

While comparing with the previous PMs, Singh said, "I want to remind you whether Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was the Prime Minister of India, whether Indira ji was the Prime Minister of India, whether Rahul Gandhi was the Prime Minister of India...."

Singh was quick to rectify his statement that had taken the audience by surprise. He went on to say that Rahul has neither been the PM nor has the possibility to become one. "Rahul Gandhi has never been the Prime Minister of India nor is there any possibility of it," he added.

This comes a day after Samajwadi Party (SP) Shivpal Singh Yadav made a similar erroneous statement while addressing a public meeting in favour of Mainpuri Lok Sabha candidate Dimple Yadav. The SP leader had claimed that BJP would win the elections.

He too had realised his mistake immediately and tried to rectify it stressing on the need to strengthen SP.