Manmohan Singh may become PM for 3rd time: Azam Khan

SP leader Azam Khan said Manmohan Singh may become the Prime Minister for the third time if the UPA retains power.

Barabanki: At a time when his party chief is projecting a major national role for himself, SP leader Azam Khan today said Manmohan Singh may become the Prime Minister for the third time if the UPA retains power.

"Manmohan Singh may hit the jackpot again as a consensus is emerging in UPA over his name if the alliance is voted back to power," the senior SP leader said here. Azam, a minister in UP cabinet, however, claimed that if the SP manages to get enough support from people of Uttar Pradesh, its leader Mulayam Singh Yadav will form the next government at the Centre. Comments of Azam, a minister in Uttar Pradesh cabinet, come even as Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav has hinted at prime ministerial ambitions asking partymen to work towards winning as many as 60 out of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh to enable it play a "decisive" role in the formation of the next government at the Centre. He has also been attempting to float a non-Congress, non-BJP front ahead of the next general elections. Azam said that if BJP projects Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as its prime ministerial candidate, it will lead to a split in the NDA. "Modi can be BJP`s PM candidate, but he will not be accepted by the NDA, which will split if the party projects him as the PM," Azam said while launching a waste management project here. He accused the Centre of misusing the CBI, saying that the reopening of a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case against Congress leader Jagdish Tytler was a proof. PTI