Democratic Progressive Azad Party chief Ghulam Nabi Azad answered why Congress senior leader Manmohan Singh was elected as the next candidate for the post of Prime Minister while fellow leader Pranab Mukherjee lagged behind in the race. In a no-holds-barred conversation with India TV Chairman and Editor-in-Chief Rajat Sharma on 'Aap Ki Adalat' show, the former Congress leader also revealed why Sonia Gandhi declined to become Prime Minister in 2004 and why Rahul Gandhi was preferred over Priyanka to join politics first.
While he spared Congress senior leader Sonia Gandhi and her daughter Priyanka while resrving his caustic remarks about Rahul Gandhi.
'Manmohan Singh was an educated and decent man'
When asked by Rajat Sharma as to why Dr Manmohan Singh was chosen as the prime minister, Azad said Singh was an educated, decent and honest man, and that went in his favour. He said, 'Manmohan Singh was a decent man, educated, a great scholar, a very good finance minister. When he was the Finance Minister for 5 years, I was the Tourism Minister at that time. We used to get along very well. He was very honest. Let us inform that from 2004 to 2014, Manmohan was the Prime Minister of the country for a total of 10 years.
Why Pranab Mukherjee could not become PM?
When Rajat Sharma asked Ghulam Nabi Azad that you never thought if Pranab Mukherjee was elected, he could have run the country better, Azad said that there was better compatibility than Manmohan Singh. He said, 'The one whom we had chosen should have had compatibility with whom he could have become more. And an image of Manmohan Singh as Finance Minister was formed. Whatever the achievement, even though Narasimha Rao was the Prime Minister, people had faith in the Finance Minister. He was a renowned economist of the world. Pranab Mukherjee later became the President of the country.
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