Sonia signals Manmohan is her choice for PM again

The setting was the brief interaction between the media and the PM and the Congress President after she hoisted the Tricolour at the party headquarters here.

Asked if he would unfurl the national flag from the ramparts of the Red Fort next year, the Prime Minister said, “Hopefully.”

At this point, Sonia, standing next to him, intervened: “Certainly, I am saying, certainly.”

A senior Congress leader said that, on the face of it, Sonia’s remark does suggest that she is endorsing Singh as the party’s candidate for PM but “at the same time, she might also be suggesting that the UPA will return to power after the next election.”

The Congress has so far been ambivalent on the issue of its Prime Ministerial candidate maintaining that there is no vacancy for the PM’s post and a decision would be taken at an appropriate time.

Sonia’s remarks also assume significance in the backdrop of CPM general secretary Prakash Karat’s recent statement that the Left would not support a Congress-led Government at the Centre after the next general election.

Given the CPM’s diatribe against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for pushing ahead with the Indo-US nuclear deal and the BJP’s consistent line that Singh is the “weakest Prime Minister” ever, the Congress president’s remarks could also be interpreted as a rebuff to the opposition, said sources.

Only last week, NCP chief Sharad Pawar had endorsed Singh as the “natural” choice of the UPA as its Prime Ministerial candidate.

Singh’s stature in the party as a politician and leader has also gone up after he led from the front to secure the Samajwadi Party’s support to prove a majority in the Lok Sabha last week and push forward the next steps in the nuclear deal.

Among those present at the flag-hoisting ceremony at the AICC headquarters today were External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Home Minister Shivraj Patil, AICC general secretaries, including Rahul Gandhi, and other party office-bearers.