New Delhi: Way back in 2010, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said: "I would be the first person to admit that we could have done more". It was his humble admittance to not doing enough in the first year of UPA II tenure.
Today, he is speaking of UPA's achievements and a whole lot of topics like corruption and price rise. Has he done better or worse? He is here to present his report card. Despite being an acclaimed economist and a scholar, Singh as PM has always been accused of working under the shadow of Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi.
This is the first press conference in three years for Singh, who is the 10th year in office, a man of few words. Singh, who has often clearly stated that he is not interested in continuing the third term, recently hinted at naming AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi as Congress PM candidate for the 2014 general polls.
The press meet comes at a crucial time as the Congress gears up for the polls after a debacle in the recent assembly polls in five states.
To name a few remarkable decisions taken by the UPA II: formation of Telangana, passing of Land Bill and Food Bill. Many scams have also been reported during his tenure. That include coal scam, chopper scam, CWG scam, Adarsh scam and IPL scam.
Highlights of the press meet:
- Party did not do well in Assembly elections
- Time to learn from mistakes
- We are set for better times and the cycle of growth is trurning for better results
- No individual or authority can substitute democratic process
- India recorded growth of 9 pc, highest in nine year period
- We have delivered on rural policies, and kept our promise on credits to farmers, investment in horticulture, rural development, esecially roads and power
- Rural per capita has increased 4 times
- Population of BPL families has fallen faster in the past decade
- We have transformed education landscape of the country
- Have widened education opportunities through schoalrships for SC/STs and backward classes and focus on girl children
- We have empowered democratic institutions
- Not just accelaration of growth that is good, equally important that we made the growth process more socially inclusive than it has ever bee
- Employment creation has not been fast enough
- The one lesson we shall all learn is that the world around us is becoming more challenging
- Will hand over baton to new PM after general elections
- Agricultural GDP has grown faster than ever before. Rural wages have increased in real terms much faster than earlier
- Food Security Act will to some extent shield common man from rising food prices
- I feel somewhat sad, since I was the one who insisted that spectrum and coal allocation be transparent
- Whether these issues which have been raised by media, CAG, courts, one must not forget belong to period not of UPA2 but previous 5 yrs
- We went to the electorate on the basis of our performance during UPA 1-PM
- We will announce the Congress PM candidate at an appropriate time
- I would be honest enough to say it could be that price rise was effective in people turning against Congress
- We have taken enough measures to protect weaker sections of our economy against price rise
- Rahul Gandhi has outstanding credentials
- I never felt like resigning at any point of time
- I haven't had the time to apply my mind yet to what the allegations are -PM on Virbhadra Singh
- Honestly believe that history will be kinder to me than the comtemporary media or for that matter Opposition parties will be
- Without discussing the merits of Mr. Modi, believe it will be disastrous for the country to have him as the PM
- If you measure the strength of Prime Minister by presiding over mass massacre of innocent citizens on streets of Ahmedabad, then I do not believe in it
- There are some hiccups and temporary aberrations. Diplomacy should be given a chance to resolve issues between India and the US
- Mrs. Gandhi's support has been enormous, especially in dealing with complex issues
- Believe that an arrangement where Congress President & PM are not the same person has worked tremenduosly well
- Party has never asked me to step down because of any inadequacies that may have characterised my tenure as PM
- I have always felt that our government would have strengthened if Rahul Gandhi had joined it
- I have not been able to visit Pakistan as circumstances were not appropriate to achieve solid results. Still hopeful of making it during my tenure
- Dealing with corruption is not an easy process,various political parties must come together to fight this monster
- The best moment for me in the last decade was when we were able to strike the nuclear deal with the US
- As far as fisherman problem is concerned,have discussed with Srilanka. Also,its untrue that we are not concerned about Srilankan tamils
