Manmohan Singh takes a dig at BJP, cautions Rahul Gandhi over Politics of Fear

Former Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh on Saturday congratulated Rahul Gandhi for taking over as the President of the Congress Party.

The former prime minister said that Rahul Gandhi that the party depends on him to transform the politics of hope that is needed, change in poverty and ignorance. "I am sure the party will scale new heights of glory," he said.

"Rahul Gandhi has travelled the entire nation and knows the situation very well. Manmohan Singh wished Rahul an excellent tenure and thanked Sonia Gandhi for training Rahul for a long period," he said.

Manmohan Singh said it was "a unique day in the history of the Congress" with Sonia Gandhi handing over the reins of the party to her son.

"Please pardon me if I get somewhat emotional on this historic day today, says Manmohan Singh. I remember a letter that Nehru had written to Indira Gandhi stating that one should be able to hold ones emotions on important occasions, but I seek your forgiveness should I get emotional today " Singh said.

Saluting Sonia Gandhi's contribution, Manmohan said that she has provided a powerful leadership and will be remembered by the party for a long time. The former PM said that he had the unique privilege of working with Sonia's Gandhi. "She took historic decisions. The growth rate was 7.8 pct per annum and 140 million ppl were lifted from poverty in 10 years," he said. "MNREGA was an important step and several other social legislation were taken under sonia Ji," he added.

Rahul Gandhi took charge as the Congress president on Saturday at an event was attended by all the major political leaders. Priyanka Gandhi also attended the event along with her husband Robert Vadra.

OneIndia News