Khurshid thanks Manmohan for propping Rahul as PM candidate

New Delhi, Jan 3: External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Friday thanked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for propping Rahul Gandhi's name as a prime ministerial candidate from the Congress, as well as for slamming BJP's Narendra Modi.

"I think he is only expressing here what we all feel very passionately as far as Rahul Gandhi is concerned, and very strongly and bitterly as far as Modi is concerned," Khurshid told reporters.

"We are grateful to our prime minister. He has on the stage expressed what we have felt for a very long time," he said.

Manmohan Singh on Friday said Rahul Gandhi has outstanding credentials to be nominated as the prime ministerial candidate. He also said Narendra Modi as prime minister would be "disastrous" for the country.

Singh in his press conference on Friday said that he would like to hand over the baton to the next prime minister, who will hopefully be from the UPA.

IANS