Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said sensing imminent defeat of the Congress in upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh decided to hang up his boots.
Though he had always held the Prime Minister in high esteem "but it is a fact that the UPA government, led by him, has failed miserably on all fronts," Badal told a gathering during his Sangat Darshan programme here.
Commenting on Manmohan Singh ruling himself out of the race for Prime Ministership after the next elections, the Chief Minister said in his entire political career, he had never seen any Premier calling off his day in such a manner.
"By doing so Manmohan Singh has accepted defeat of his party in the coming Lok Sabha polls," the 86-year-old six-time Chief Minister said.
Sensing its defeat was inevitable, the UPA government had ceased to function and was taking irrational decisions to further accentuate woes of the common man, he said.
Inflation, graft, poverty and other social maladies had crossed all limits during the decade-long rule of the UPA at the Centre, Badal said.
The Congress was pinning hopes on its vice-president Rahul Gandhi in the forthcoming general elections, the Chief Minister said but added the Nehru-Gandhi scion did not have any experience in running the government.
