The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, on Thursday said he was confident about a Congress victory in the 2014 General Elections, and predicted that the Bharatiya Janata Party's aggressive electoral campaign would peak early, while his party's 'slow and steady' approach would emerge triumphant.
"Well, I think the Congress party is quite active. I don't share your view that the Congress party is not active enough. I think the BJP may have started early but I think it will peak early ; and slow and steady, I think, is the thing which sometimes works in public life as well. I am confident that Congress party will come out victorious in the 2014 elections," Dr. Singh said on board Air India One, when asked how the Congress Party would meet the BJP's aggressive ongoing election campaign challenge.
Dr. Singh also said that despite the controversies in last nine years, such as the 2G scam, CWG scam, coal scam and inflation, he remains confident about a Congress win in the upcoming elections.
"First of all, I would say the 'scams' that you are referring to, took place not in UPA-II, they took in UPA-I. After that we had a general election. The Congress party won in that election hands down and I am sure when the result of 2014 gets out," the Prime Minister said.
Earlier, on his return from the G-20 Summit in St. Petersburg, Dr. Singh had endorsed Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi's candidature for the post of Prime Minister in the 2014 General Elections.
BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi is spearheading the party's election campaign for the 2014 General Elections, and has adopted the slogan of promoting 'good governance' and the development model he has implemented as Chief Minister in Gujarat as a unifying thread through his addresses.
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"Good governance starts from good intentions, survives on lasting institutions and reaches across countries and beyond. ... Lack of good governance is like diabetes, which affects each and every part of the body," Modi said at his address via videoconference to the Global Emerging Markets Forum in the United States, earlier this month.
"Good governance is always easy and effective governance. We should have no doubts about democracy - it has a strong foundation and flexible structure - let us design useful practices and processes in this framework. ... Governance must be system based and policy driven. It reduces subjectivity and corruption," Modi added.
The General Elections in the country are scheduled to be held in May 2014.