New Delhi, May 24: Into his seventh year in office, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday ruled out retirement since his tasks remain ”unfinished” but offered to make way for a younger leader if the Congress party wanted that.
At a 75-minute press conference, his third in the capital since he first became the Prime Minister in 2004, Singh scotched speculation of “mistrust and distrust” between him and party President Sonia Gandhi, saying that there was “not an iota of truth” in that.
He was asked whether he would make way for Rahul Gandhi to take over during his current tenure which will end in 2014 and whether the thought of retirement came to his mind.
In a carefully-crafted response, Singh told over 700 journalists, “I have been given this task (of Prime Ministership). It is still unfinished. Till I finish the tasks, there is no question of retirement.”
At the same time, he said he himself felt sometimes that younger people should take over. “As and when, the Congress party makes that judgement, I will be very happy to make place for anybody chosen by the party,” he said.
At another point, the 77-year-old leader said Rahul Gandhi was “very qualified” to join his Cabinet and he had talked to him about it several times but the young leader wanted to focus more on building the party.
“Whenever he (Rahul) is ready, he would be an appropriate addition to the Cabinet,” the Prime Minister said.
During the press conference that was telecast live nationwide and that coincided with the completion of one year of UPA-II, Singh answered questions on a range of issues including price rise, naxalism, terrorism and relations with Pakistan.
Dismissing speculation about lack of coordination between the government and the party, the Prime Minister said he meets Sonia Gandhi every week to discuss some major issues and continued to receive “advice and guidance” from her.
–Agencies