Kanpur, Apr 29: Fromer Union minister and senior
Congress leader Manmohan Singh today said he was not in the
race for the prime ministership.
"No I am not in the race for the post," he said while talking to media persons
here.
When asked to comment on the recent statement by Prime
Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on his "retirement", Singh said
"I have got great regards for him and I will not say anything
on this issue."
Manmohan singh terming the BJP as an ''opportunist'', said the party never
cared for Muslims in the country till now but suddenly had
promised them a better deal which revealed their double standards.
''The Muslims cannot forget the Gujarat tragedy. Even the
judiciary had to intervene in the Best Bakery case to prevent
miscarriage of justice,'' he said.
Singh, the leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha, said that economic reforms in the country were initiated by the Congress governments but the NDA
failed to continue it further, owing to its wrong economic policies.
The congress government took steps for modernisation of Indian
industries and revival of sick industries but the Vajpayee
government opened doors for foreign investors in all sectors
resulting in the closure of industrial units, he said.
''Even the profit making public sector units (PSUs) were being
sold at throw-away prices and large number of employees were
retrenched from these units,'' he alleged.
He stated that if the Congress government came to power it would release a package to revive the sick units. ''There is ample scope for the textile
industry in Kanpur, and steps would be taken to restart the
closed textile units as soon as possible,'' he maintained.
Singh said the BJP had promised to remove ''fear, hunger
and corruption'' but the same prevailed during the NDA's
rule. Even the most reputed financial institutions like the UTI
could not be saved from corruption, he added.
In reply to a poser, he said Congress president Sonia Gandhi was
the undisputed leader of the party and ''she would be the Prime
Minister of the country if Congress came to power.''
Bureau Report
