Manmohan Singh was Wednesday night officially appointed Indian
prime minister to head the coalition-led Congress after Sonia
Gandhi rejected appeals to take up the top post.
The Press Trust of India reported that President A. P. J. Abdul
Kalam appointed the 71-year-old Singh to succeed Atal Bihari
Vajpayee after he along with Gandhi met him for about 15
minutes at Rashtrapati Bhawan, or the Presidential Palace, to bring
to an end an extraordinary political drama triggered by Gandhi's
decision not to become prime minister despite frenzied pleas by her
party men across the country.
Singh was elected leader of CPP at a general body meeting held
at the central hall of parliament, after Sonia Gandhi rejected
appeals by Congress leaders to take back her decision not to accept
Prime Ministership, the Press Trust of India (PTI) reported.
Gandhi will now remain chairperson of the CPP and
71-year-old soft-spoken Singh, ex-Finance Minister in the Narasimha
Rao government (1991-96) will be deputy chairperson.
"Singh is likely to be sworn in as prime minister Thursday," the
PTI quoted Congress spokesman Anand Sharma as saying.
Meanwhile, the Congress allies have told Gandhi that
leadership of Congress was an internal party matter and they would
support any leader chosen by the CPP.
Earlier, Singh had been expected to serve as Finance Minister
under a coalition-led government, with Sonia Gandhi as Prime
Minister.
But after Gandhi's dramatic decision to turn down the government
job in what was seen as a bid to shield her party from attacks by
the Bharatiya Janata Party and other parties over her foreign
birth, Singh was her choice for the post.
(Xinhua News Agency May 20, 2004)