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Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday virtually ruled himself out of the race for prime ministership in the next general elections, throwing his weight behind Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, and expressed willingness to work for the party.
“I have always maintained that Rahul Gandhi ji would be an ideal choice for the prime minister’s position after the 2014 elections. I would be very happy to work for the Congress party under the leadership of Mr Rahul Gandhi,” Singh said at a press conference during his return to New Delhi from the G20 Summit in St Petersburg, Russia, on Saturday.
Neither the Congress nor the main Opposition BJP has so far officially declared a prime ministerial candidate. Narendra Modi is tipped to be announced as BJP’s choice. The Congress has not revealed its strategy so far, though Singh had earlier refused to rule himself out or rule himself in.
On Saturday, Singh did not rule out the Congress forging an alliance with the Trinamool Congress, which left the United Progressive Alliance in protest against the move to allow foreign direct investment in multi-brand retailing. Amid reports of the Central Bureau of Investigation considering questioning the prime minister over the coal block allotment scam, Singh said his conduct was an open book. To a query whether he would be ready for questioning, he evaded a direct reply, saying: “I have not prevented anybody from looking at my conduct.” When reminded of the Opposition's dissatisfaction at his statement on the coal scam, Singh said he was as forthcoming in Parliament as he could be.
Asked if he would meet his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif at the United Nationals General Assembly meeting in the coming weeks, Singh said his decision would depend on the ground reality. “If terror acts do not stop; if those who voice terrorist thoughts move about freely; if there is no significant progress in bringing the culprits of the Mumbai massacre to book; all that I have to factor in before arriving at a final decision,” he said.
Terming the expanded currency-swap agreement with Japan as a second line of defence for the rupee, Singh said the fundamentals of the economy had to be brought back to good health. He exuded confidence that the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill as well as the Land Acquisition Bill would help revive confidence.
Singh said the government would do everything possible to contain the Centre’s fiscal deficit at 4.8 per cent of GDP for the financial year. The current account deficit would also be curtailed, he said.
Singh said although his stand over the orderly tapering of Quantitative Easing by the US Federal Reserve was widely appreciated at the summit, he did not expect any immediate results as central banks were bound by domestic factors.
