New Delhi:
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met five editors of different print publications today as part of what's seen as an image makeover. This effort will see Dr Manmohan Singh interact more frequently - though off-camera - with the media.
(Read: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's opening remarks at the interaction with newspaper editors) | (
Transcript of PM's Q&A session with Editors)
Kumar Ketkar, one of the editors at the meeting which was held at the PM's residence, said Dr Manmohan Singh came across as "totally relaxed, confident and jovial" as he answered some very exacting questions. "All of us were surprised...he was extremely confident even with very embarrassing questions...all the editors knew we could not afford to be non-confrontationist," said Mr Ketkar.
(Watch: Editors describe what PM said about Sonia, Rahul and Anna Hazare)Today's session is meant to launch a series of interactions with the press. Mr Ketkar said that the PM explained that he was "disconcerted" by continuing criticism of his unavailability to the media. Dr Singh said he wanted to end allegations - some of them raised by the Opposition - that his silence indicates that he is not in control of his government during a period when it's tackling a slate of corruption scandals and worrying inflation.
Dr Singh dismissed allegations that he is a lameduck Prime Minister as "clever propaganda" by the Opposition. He said reports that suggest his government is often undermined by the Congress and Sonia Gandhi are untrue. He said Mrs Gandhi and he meet regularly with senior ministers to discuss government policy. He praised Mrs Gandhi for offering him "maximum cooperation" and said she has done "a superb job" as Congress President.
(Highlights of PM's meet with Editors)When asked about the much-anticipated Cabinet reshuffle, which is expected to get rid of under-performing ministers, the PM said the exercise is "a work in progress" but refused to indicate when it would take place. When asked about recent comments by some of his party leaders that Rahul Gandhi is ready to be PM, Dr Singh said, "Personally, if you ask me, the general proposition that younger people should take over, I think, is the right sentiment".
He said that so far, his party has not discussed this formally. When the Congress decides that there should be a younger leader, he said, "I will be very happy to step down, but so long as I am here I have a job to do".
Dr Manmohan Singh was highly critical of the media, accusing it of acting as "accuser, prosecutor and judge."
He discussed at length the Lokpal Bill which has headlined India's summer. The Bill, which is meant to check corruption within politicians and bureaucrats, was being drafted for the first time by a committee that included non-elected activists like Gandhian Anna Hazare. The joint effort between the government and these activists ended in chaos - ministers on the committee have delivered one draft of the Bill, Team Anna has prepared another. Their irreconcilable differences are topped by whether the Lokpal Bill should apply to the Prime Minister's Office. "I have no hesitation in bringing myself under the purview of Lokpal but many of my Cabinet colleagues feel that bringing the institution of Prime Minister under it will create instability," Dr Singh told the editors. Slamming the PM's remarks, the BJP has said his stand on Lokpal Bill is "surprising."
(Watch)An all-party meeting on July 3 will discuss the draft for the Lokpal Bill. Mr Hazare's team says their draft in its entirety cannot be excluded from this discussion. "The government will reach out to civil society but no group can insist that their views are the last word," said the PM today.
(Watch: PM must air his views on Lokpal, says Narayana Murthy)