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New Delhi: Manmohan Singh, the longest serving Prime Minister since Jawaharlal Nehru, on Friday announced that he will hang his boots after the 2014 Lok Sabha elections while makibg it clear that if the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance comes back to power then Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi will step into his shoes.
Manmohan Singh who virtually announced his retirement from politics during a rare media interaction on Friday once again shied away from taking the onus of several big scams and corruption during the 10 years of UPA's reign and claimed that he had done his best for the country. Refusing to judge himself, he left it to the historians to give a verdict on his tenure and legacy.
While paving the way for Rahul Gandhi to take over the baton from him, Singh heaped praise on the former saying the MP from Amethi has "excellent credentials to lead the country".
Singh also launched a stinging attack on Gujarat Chief Minister and BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi accusing him of presiding over the mass massacre during the 2002 riots in the state.
In his strongest ever attack on Modi, the Prime Minister said, "Without going into the credentials of anyone, I think it will be disastrous for the country to have Narendra Modi as the PM. Strong leader does not mean you preside over the mass massacre of the people on the streets of Ahmedabad."
"What Narendra Modi is saying will not materialise," he added about Modi's Congress-free India campaign signalling that Congress would take the BJP leader head on during the Lok Sabha elections.
While addressing his first media interaction in almost four years and third in his entire tenure, Singh, however, admitted that his government failed on several counts like controlling corruption, inflation and generating jobs.
Defending the government on various scams, Singh said the UPA government has done more than any other regime to bring in transparency in spectrum and coal block allocations. Holding up the UPA's economic record, he said growth was highest during his 10 year long tenure.
He also defended himself over various charges that he has faced during his tenure as the PM and maintained that his government has not been at fault as much as the opposition parties and the media would like to project.
Trying to dodge questions on his performance as the Prime Minister, he said that he had done his best and it was in the hands of the historians to decide how his term has been. "I have done as far as I could. It is now for the historians to judge how I have done," he said.
Reflecting on his tenure in UPA-I and II, Singh said that his government had done all that it could for the country. "I have done my best. People doubted our ability to run a coalition government. We may have compromised sometime. But, we have done well," he said.
Singh expressed his belief that India was "set for better times" as the cycle of global economic growth was on the rise. He also blamed the media and the opposition for overtly focusing on the downs. "Economies have ups and downs, we should not focus overtly on the ups and downs," he said.
He also added that he was satisfied with the acceleration of growth in the country. "The acceleration of growth gives me satisfaction. We made growth process more inclusive than ever before. India saw growth to nine per cent in past nine years which is the highest in any 9-year period," he asserted.
A fuming BJP quickly hit out at Singh over his press conference, with Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley saying that his address was only intended to announce his retirement and called the last 10 years of UPA government's rule a wasted opportunity. "PM addressed a press conference and announced that he will not be available for the Congress during and after 2014 elections," he said.
Jaitley lambasted the Prime Minister for criticising Modi the way he did. "This kind of language does not suit the Prime Minister," he said.
> Defending Modi over the accusation against him by the PM, Jaitley said, "Monitored judicial process has vindicated Narendra Modi thrice. Modi has been under intense scrutiny, he is perhaps the most scrutinised leaders since 1947."
Calling the address a farce, Jaitley said that the UPA government failed on the three most basic counts on which the government should work. "He admitted that he failed to contain corruption and inflation, and failed to generate jobs. But he could not give a solution to the problems that he highlighted," he said.
He also targeted the PM's speech for "lacking ambition" and added that "this is for the historians to write" and "time will tell" were the most frequently used sentences in his press conference. "It's not time but voters who tell and they have told emphatically in recent elections," he challenged the PM.
Jaitley added that the PM was "bitter, more bitter to Opposition especially Narendra Modi". He said that since it was a farewell press conference of the PM this was a time for introspection for him not for bitterness. "He was not honest in introspection of his tenure," he said.
Not only the principle opposition party criticised Singh's speech, but CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury also echoed the BJP's views saying the people of the nation were feeling the heat of the Union government's policies.
President of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) Siddhartha Birla too said that in the last one year the government had failed to generate jobs.
But the over 75 minute long interaction failed to clearly project what the Prime Minister had in mind about India's future. He seemed inclined to defend his legacy and project the notion that electoral victories can be used to wash away the lacuna of his administration.
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