FILE photo: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will chair his last cabinet meeting today as he prepares to demit office on May 17, a day after the results of the general election are announced.
Dr Singh, 81, had announced earlier this year that he would not seek a third term should the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) secure a a third successive win. But that appears highly unlikely as exit polls yesterday, after voting ended for the last phase of the staggered elections, showed that the BJP and its allies are set for a parliamentary majority.
(Narendra Modi on Course for Election Victory, Exit Polls Show)Today, the Prime Minister will chair the last meeting of the Cabinet Committee for Economic Affairs where he may clear Foreign Direct Investment or FDI in the pharma sector.
Later in the day, Dr Singh will host a farewell for his officers at 7, Race Course Road, his official residence.
Tomorrow, Congress president Sonia Gandhi will host a farewell dinner for him, where he is, according to sources, expected to be presented with a memento signed by all members of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) and Union Ministers.
(Read more...)But despite quitting office, Manmohan Singh, India's 13th prime minister and the first technocrat to rule the country, will still be visible in public life as a Rajya Sabha member. He was re-elected for a six-year term last year, his fifth successive since 1991.