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Indian PM Singh to Step Down after 2014 Elections

Indian PM Singh to Step Down after 2014 Elections
folder_openIndia access_time10 years ago
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Local Editor

India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced Friday that he will step down after elections this year and said reluctant political scion Rahul Gandhi should take his place if the ruling Congress party wins an unlikely third term.

Indian PM Singh to Step Down after 2014 ElectionsSingh also mounted his strongest attack yet on opposition leader Narendra Modi who has been making gains in the polls, despite his links to deadly religious riots in western Gujarat state in 2002.

"In a few months' time after the general elections, I will hand over the baton to a new prime minister," Singh said in opening remarks at a rare press conference that confirmed his imminent retirement.

The 81-year-old had already hinted strongly at his intention to make way for leader-in-waiting Gandhi, the scion of the Gandhi dynasty which has dominated India's politics since independence.
Singh said that Congress would declare its prime ministerial candidate in due course, with commentators speculating the announcement would come as early as a party meeting on January 17.
"Rahul Gandhi has outstanding credentials [to be prime minister]. I hope our party will take that decision at an appropriate time," he added.

Polls show Congress is extremely unlikely to emerge as the winner in the world's biggest election due by May this year, with the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party under Modi's leadership gathering momentum.

"It would be disastrous for the country to have Narendra Modi as prime minister," Singh said.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

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