Manmohan Singh Live: Modi as PM will be disastrous

11.31 am: "Modi as PM will be disastrous for India"

The prime minister has said this government will come out unscathed when history is written, but what about his colleagues? The prime minister has been unable to  reign in his Cabinet colleagues despite serious allegations of abuse of power, having instead gone back to core groups, the high command, and others.  "History will be kinder to me than the contemporary media," the prime minister says to a few laughs.

Asked about Modi, the prime minister makes his strongest statement yet: "I have full confidence that the next PM will be from the UPA coalition. It will be disastrous for the country to have Narendra Modi as prime minister. "

11.30 am: On being a silent PM 

"I have spoken whenever necessary. I have spoken at the Congress fora. And I will continue to do so."

One more question follows on the same trajectory -- has Dr Singh lost sight of the poplar appreciation for the fact that an economist had become prime minister. "I am the same person as I was nine years ago. There has been no change. I have tried to serve this country with utmost dedication, commitment and integrity... I have never used my office to enrich myself or friends or relatives. "

11.25 am: Price rise definitely a factor in the Assembly polls defeat

The loss at the Assembly elections must have had some impact on the Congress party's thinking about the last leg before the big elections of 2014. Will there be a rush of freebies and populist measures with elections coming up -- diesel prices not being increased, for example?

"I would not like to speculate.. but will be honest enough to say that it could be that the price rise was a factor in the people's turning against the Congress party and I have expained the reasons... there were reasons beyond our control." International commodities' prices, oil prices, to cite a few. 

"We have taken enough measures to protect the weaker sections against rising prices -- PDS has been stabilised, prices in PDS have not been increased since 2003. What's more, through MGNREGA, we have ensured that rural wages are indexed at the rate of inflation. This is a measure of protection for these segments of our society," says the PM.

11.25 am: "Never felt like resigning."

The PM says he has enjoyed his tenure, despite the challenges. "I never felt like resigning at any time. I have enjoyed doing my work. I have tried to do it without regard for fear or favour."

11.20 am: "I am the one who insisted that spectrum must be auctioned"

The first aggressive question comes: HAs your image as a clean PM not been hit by the series of scams? The PM takes that on his chin. The allegations of scams  mostly pertain to the period of UPA 1. The people of India have voted the UPA back to power. "The People of India do not seem to have taken heed to the allegations of corruption against me or the party."

Asked specifically about spectrum allocation and the CWG scam, Dr Singh says, "I was the one who insisted that spectrum should be auctioned."

When history of the period is written, we will come out unscathed, says the prime minister. "This is not to say there were no irregularities. But the dimensions of the problem have been overstated by the media and by other entities. "

11.15 am: PM announces he will retire after 2014 elections

Having stated the UPA's commitment to fighting corruption, citing the Right to Information, the prime minister announces his retirement, to come after 2014 elections. "I will hand over the baton to a new prime minister. I hope it will be a UPA prime minister," he says.    

11.13 am: Employment in manufacturing could have grown faster

The first sound of a warning comes in the field of manufacturing -- not enough growth in employment in the manufacturing sector, he says. We need stronger efforts in supporting SMEs for good quality employment, he adds.

11.10 am: "Agricultural growth excellent, educational landscape transformed"

India, says the PM, has become one of the largest producers of foodgrain, poultry and fish. Real consumption per capita has risen four times faster, the percentage of population below the poverty line has fallen much faster than in the 10 years preceding 2004-2011.  The total number of people living below the poverty line has  come down by 13.8 crore, he says.

On education, Dr Singh, who has himself been a beneficiary of public scholarships, says, "I take great pride in saying we have transformed the educational landscape of the city. Through  Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan, new universitiesm, new industrial training centres, all of these have enabled flowering of enterprise in skill-building.

11.00 am: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrives, will read out an opening statement. 

Set for better times, a better growth cycle soon. With those promises, the prime minister sets the tone for what could be a candid chat. "Our party did not do well," he concedes about the just-concluded Assembly elections that saw record turnout of voters. "We welcome the extent of participation and will reflect on what the results tell us for the future and learn appropriate lessons," he says.

The slowdown in India was part of a global event. Let's not dwell too long on the short term ups and downs, he suggests.

10:55 am: Stage set for the Prime Minister's press conference

The stage is now set for the Prime Minister, who CNN-IBN's Rajdeep Sardesai says is a 'tragic hero', to address the media shortly and though no surprises are expected one cannot but be a little curious about what he's going to talk about.

He has promised to answer all questions. Let's see what happens.

9:30 am: Twitter abuzz ahead of Manmohan Singh's press conference

With the hype around this press conference, we turned to Twitter to see the reactions to the Prime Minister's press conference.

There's already a Twitter handle called @AskPMOIndia where you can send your questions for the PM but its not very clear how it will be asked of him.

Here are some of the reactions of some prominent Twiterati to the impending event:

Am all eyes...will wait for lips to move as Manmohan Singh addresses the Press...historic day for him...he's found his voice if not his mojo

— SUHEL SETH (@suhelseth) January 3, 2014

 

 

"@IndiaToday: Manmohan Singh to face media today, his 3rd media interaction in 9.5 years as PM" stressful day. like 3rd attempt JEE.

— Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) January 3, 2014

 

Good morning! Friday blockbusters - The Wolf of Wall Street, Sholay in 3D, Manmohan Singh unmuted. Have a nice day

— palki sharma (@palkisu) January 3, 2014

 

7:30 am: Manmohan Singh to address first press conference of 2014

If there's one thing that the nation knows about Prime Minister Manmohan Singh it is that he is a man of few words. Most loquacious when flying back into India when he's returning from a foreign trip, Singh keeps his interactions with the press to a bare minimum and with the public restricted to televised speeches (and not all of those have gone smoothly either).

The numbers bear testimony to this. This press conference will be only the second during Singh's second term as Prime Minister. It will be only his third full-fledged press conference in the entire 10 years that he has been the Prime Minister.

So when coming to the end of a ten year term, possibly his last stint in national politics, Singh's announcement that he would be addressing a press conference just three days into the new year has expectedly been met with a lot of speculation.

Can he salvage anything with this press conference? PTI

Will he resign? No, said his office. Will Rahul Gandhi be made the Prime Minister to get a few months in the chair to motivate him for the national elections and get him some responsibility to show off? Unlikely, and it would be a really bad gamble.

So what do we expect? Singh is likely to focus on how the government, despite the claims of the opposition, met economic challenges head on and managed to achieve a modicum of success. The Prime Minister in all likelihood will deny the claims of policy paralysis and will give us numbers to show otherwise. He could blame Europe for the nation's economic woes like he has been for the past few months and could also face some questions on the Congress showing in the recent Assembly elections.

He will endorse Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and the philosophy of the Congress. In all likelihood he will have something to say about everything BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi has been saying, and about the BJP that has blocked Parliamentary proceedings and stalled crucial legislation. It's unlikely to be complimentary but then Singh is not a man of harsh words.

There won't be anything groundbreaking and if anything may be a defence that has come too late. But it will be good to hear the Prime Minister at least take some of these inconvenient questions for a change, rather than staying away from them.