New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday did not rule out a third term at the helm if the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance was returned to power in the next elections, but added that he would welcome Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi to be prime minister “any day”.
Asked whether he would accept a third term as prime minister, Manmohan Singh said: “It is a hypothetical question... We are yet to complete this term.”
Asked whether he was ruling himself out, he said: “I am not ruling it in, I am not ruling it out.”
He was speaking to media persons at Rashtrapati Bhavan after the Padma awards function.
On the issue of dual power centres, he termed it a “creation of the media. It is a useless debate”. He was replying to a question on the issue raised by Congress leader Digvijay Singh. The Congress has dismissed Digvijay’s contention.
Asked whether he would welcome Rahul Gandhi as prime minister, he said: “Oh yes, any day.”
He described as “excellent” Gandhi’s speech at a Confederation of Indian Industry meeting on Thursday.
Earlier this week, Congress spokesperson Janardhan Dwivedi had said that the Manmohan Singh-Sonia Gandhi dual power centre model had worked well for the party and could continue in future. “The relationship between Sonia Gandhi and the PM is a model for the future. The party will decide at a later time who will lead the 2014 election campaign. Manmohan Singh is the leader now and everyone accepts him,” Dwivedi said.
Digvijay had said that the dual power system had not worked.
IANS
