Published: Tuesday, May 25, 2010, 1:39 IST
By Harish Gupta | Place: New Delhi | Agency: DNA
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_i-have-no-plans-to-retire-but-rahul-gandhi-is-welcome-pm-manmohan-singh_1387403
The big message from prime minister Manmohan Singh’s marathon press conference on Monday — his first in UPA-II — was that he has no plans to retire or make room for anybody; he has an unfinished task on hand.
Singh made it clear that young leaders were more than welcome, adding that he would like Rahul Gandhi to join the cabinet as he is “very qualified”.
He said he had talked to him several times in this regard “but he wanted to focus more on the (Congress) party”.
“I sometimes feel younger people should take over as and when the Congress makes that judgment, I will be very happy to make place for anybody the party may choose,” he said, in a carefully crafted response.
But this much was clear — he won’t quit on his own. “I have been given this task (of prime ministership). Woh kaam abhi adhoora hai — the task is only half-done. Till I finish the task, there is no question of retirement,” he said emphatically.
Into his seventh year in office, Singh also firmly scotched speculation of “mistrust and distrust” between him and party president Sonia Gandhi, saying there was “not an iota of truth and there is no gap in thinking”.
“Invariably, we meet every week… there is no gap between me and the Congress president when it comes to doing things which our government should do,” he added.
And when a scribe wanted to know how he managed the two women - Sonia Gandhi and Gursharan Kaur (his wife) - in his life, the PM quipped: “I have the benefit of advice by both. Both deal with different subjects. Both have a role and there is no problem.”
This was his third media interaction and first on the completion of his first year in office of the UPA-II. He dealt with a range of issues and assured countrymen that prices would come down by December this year and that economy will maintain its growth path.
However, he remained largely non-committal on ministers speaking in different voices. At one point, he said ministers should express their views inside the cabinet which meets every week rather than airing them in public. At the same time, he also left no one in doubt that he was firmly with home minister P Chidambaram on the Maoist issue, saying that it was the single biggest threat to the internal security of the nation.
The PM emphatically denied any commitment or decision to carry out caste-based census saying all he had committed in the Lok Sabha was to take into account the views expressed in Parliament and that the process is still going on.
The issue will be discussed in the cabinet and only then would any decision be taken, he said.
Meanwhile, while the prime minister was addressing his press conference, Sonia Gandhi was busy meeting a delegation of Congress leaders from Maharashtra at 10 Janpath, her residence. Her meeting began at 10.30am and ended at 11.45am, which coincided with the time Singh’s press conference began and ended.
