HVK Archives: Manmohan Singh to take on Vajpayee
Manmohan Singh to take on Vajpayee - The Sunday Observer
Mohammad Sayeed Malik in New Delhi
()
January 4-10, 1998
Title: Manmohan Singh to take on Vajpayee
Author: Mohammad Sayeed Malik in New Delhi
Publication: The Sunday Observer
Date: January 4-10, 1998
Former Union finance minister Dr Manmohan Singh will be the
Congress party's prime ministerial candidate in the forthcoming
Lok Sabha elections. The party will shortly project Singh,
reputed for his integrity and administrative acumen, as its
candidate for the top slot, against Bharatiya Janata Party
stalwart Atal Behari Vajpayee.
An indication of Singh's nomination as the Congress candidate for
prime ministership emanated from party circles in the wake of
Sonia Gandhi's decision to spearhead its election campaign. She
is said to be keenly pursuing this proposition amid reports that
it has the backing of an overwhelming majority in the party.
Singh's name had figured in party fora earlier too, with Murli
Deora - an influential Congressman from Mumbai - forcefully
advocating such a move. But it was only after Sonia Gandhi
announced that she would participate in the election campaign
that the idea started gaining momentum.
The feeling in Congress circles is that Singh is eminently suited
to confront Vajpayee who has been projected on the BJP's main
election plank - stable government, able prime minister.
Singh has a good image in the country and abroad. Notwithstanding
Sitaram Kesri's assertion (before Sonia Gandhi's entry into the
election scene) that Congress MPs would elect their leader after
the polls, the feeling in the party is that it will be conceding
a vital tactical advantage to the BJP by refraining from
projecting its nominee against Vajpayee. The Congress has never
fought an election without projecting its choice for the prime
minister's post.
In the given circumstances, the party's first choice would
obviously have been Sonia Gandhi but for her unwillingness to
accept that role. She, however, is convinced that the Congress
should maintain its tradition of going into elections with its
prime ministerial candidate and is said to be keen about Dr Singh
being nominated for the post. It is in that process that Singh's
name gained circulation in Congress circles.
Congress sources pointed out that it was not necessary to install
Singh as Congress president (in place of Kesri) to project him as
the party's nominee for prime ministership. But one suggestion
is to nominate him as head of the party's supreme election body
to give him an effective say in the selection of candidates for
the election. He is already a member of the Congress Working
Committee, which will be converted into the central election
committee. Singh had been nominated to the CWC by Kesri.
In Congress circles, Singh is rated as the fittest person to
feted the formidable challenge from Vajpayee. His track record
effectively answers both posers in the BJP's stability-ability
plank. The minority government of P V Narasimha Rao owed its
stability (it ran its full five-year term) to a large extent to
Dr Singh's accomplished role as architect of India's universally
acclaimed economic reforms. His high moral reputation also cuts
across party lines.
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