<b>Congress says Manmohan will remain PM</b>

With election trends favouring UPA, Congress today said Manmohan Singh will be the Prime Minister now and Rahul Gandhi its future prime minister.   

This election Manmohan Singh is our prime ministerial candidate, AICC General Secretary Janardan Dwivedi told reporters here.  

The prime minister's chair is Rahul Gandhi's future as he is the future leader of the party, Dwivedi said.  He said there were three decisive factors for party's good performance - leadership of the government by the Prime Minister, leadership of UPA by Sonia Gandhi and leadership of campaign by Rahul.  

Dwivedi's remarks come at a time when UPA appeared all set to return to power.  

On the issue of alliances, Dwivedi said Left parties also have very little options and will also introspect in the post election scenario.       "We had not broken the relationship, they had withdrawn support," he said.      

The Left parties had withdrawn support to the Congress-led UPA government following differences over the Indo-US nuclear deal. 

"Rahul is future leader of the Congress, he will become prime minister when he will desire and such a situation emerges," Dwivedi said.  He was responding to a question on chances of Rahul becoming prime minister.  There is full possibility of his becoming prime minister, he added.