PM warns sulking Congress leaders

'My govt will complete full term'

Restore the greatness of Maharashtra by voting the Congress" was the overall message of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's address to Congress workers and Maharashtra voters as he asked them to stop sulking and start working to keep communal forces at bay. Singh was in Mumbai for a day yesterday to campaign for the Assembly elections.

Obviously worried at the number of Congress rebels in the field, he chided party workers who were sulking for being denied a ticket. "Internal fights and misunderstandings are all part of being a family. But this is not the right time to indulge in internal bickering and display anger," he said.

He warned what would happen if these negative feeling were allowed to come to the fore. "Those desirous of running the country on religious and caste lines should not be given a chance to come to the fore again," Singh said.

He said despite suffering a crushing defeat, communal forces had refused to accept defeat gracefully, and after failing to create hindrances in the working of the government by stalling House proceedings. "They have now turned to astrologers and tantriks to find out ways and means to topple the UPA government," he said.

"These forces have also not desisted from spreading false rumours about the instability in the government and had gone as far as predicting its fall before my birthday," he said.

Dubbing the efforts to topple the government as "illusions" harboured by the Opposition, he asserted that the UPA government would complete its full five-year tenure.

While appealing to the Maharashtra electorate to strengthen the hands of "secular forces" by voting the Congress-led alliance to power.

Conceding that Mumbai had played a major role in ensuring "secular forces" were installed in power at the centre, he said the success tasted by them in the metropolis during the Lok Sabha election was "beyond expectations". 'Do it again' was his message.

Describing Maharashtra as the "soul of the country", he said that thoughts or views emerging from the state were often picked up by the rest of the country. Hence it was imperative for the Maharashtra electorate to send out a clear message that the "secular forces" were back in command.

Singh's message had a generous dose of the 'think global, act local' element. "When we talk of a resurgent Asia, people think of the great changes that have come about in Shanghai. I share this aspiration with the chief minister and senior Congress leaders: to transform Mumbai in the next five years in such a manner that people will forget about Shanghai and Mumbai will become a talking point," the prime minister said.

Addressing the grievances of Mumbai's electorate, Singh said there were dreams to transform Mumbai into a world class centre and Asia's number one city by taking massive economic and social steps in the realm of infrastructure development.

Singh did refer to contentious issues such as closed mills but added that this was one other reason why the state government must be on the same "wavelength" as the Centre.

"I understand the problem. The central government hoped to work in co-ordination with the state government to find a solution".

The issue of transportation and communication were major problems in the metros and were also the subjects the Centre was keen to take up, he said.