World | India
Fate of Indian prime minister seems uncertain
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh may be on his way out if buzz making rounds in the ruling Congress party circles are to be believed.
- By Ajay Jha, Chief Correspondent
- Published: 00:15 February 7, 2008
New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh may be on his way out if buzz making rounds in the ruling Congress party circles are to be believed.
The fate of Singh is being directly linked to his continued inability to expand and reshuffle his council of ministers, which is believed to have been stymied by the party supremo Sonia Gandhi. Singh was expected to undertake the exercise earlier this week.
Party circles say that Sonia is seriously contemplating asking an apolitical Singh to step down and replace him with a leader well versed with political intricacies in order to get rid of the constant jibe of the opposition terming her as the super prime minister and Singh as the most ineffective prime minister the country ever had.
Three names are currently making rounds as possible successor to Singh. This includes the high profile Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Sonia's parliamentarian son Rahul Gandhi and Petroleum Minister Murli Deora.
Sources say that Sonia far from happy with the manner Singh dared the Left Front to withdraw its crucial support to his government over the contentious Indo-US nuclear deal, forcing the Left to take a strident stand.
"Even the Left Front is unhappy with Singh and it was due to efforts made by madam [Sonia] and Mukherjee in placating the Left that the government has survived so far," sources said.
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