I neither rule it in, nor out: PM on third term

Even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday gave a fresh twist to the raging debate over the country’s next head of government by claiming that he is neither ruling himself in, nor out, the Congress made it clear that it did not see any contradiction in his statement and the party’s stand on “two power centres”.
In his first reaction to a question on whether he would accept a third term in office, the Prime Minister initially dismissed it as “hypothetical”, saying: “We are yet to complete this term.” But when pressed further on whether he was ruling himself out, he remarked, “I am not ruling it in, I am not ruling it out.”
His comments assume significance as there is a clamour in the Congress to project the 42-year-old Rahul Gandhi as the party’s prime ministerial candidate for the Lok Sabha election next year.
Last week, Dr Singh, when asked whether he would accept another term in office, had said, “We will cross that bridge when we reach there.” On Friday, Dr Singh, however, said he would welcome “any day” Rahul Gandhi as Prime Minister. But he dismissed as “useless” the debate over two power centres — one in the person of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and the other the PM. “This is a creation of the media. It is a useless debate,” the PM said when asked about the issue. Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh had earlier raked up the issue, saying the system of two power centres had not worked well and should not be repeated. But the party has rejected his contention, saying it is an “ideal model” for the future too.
Rejecting the suggestion of a marked difference between Dr Singh’s remarks and the party’s stand, AICC spokesperson Rashid Alvi said, “The PM has not made any statement which is contradictory to what party general secretary Janardan Dwivedi had said. There is no contradiction between the party and the government. If you see the history of the Congress, the PM and party president had always been separate persons.”
Mr Alvi said, “When we are talking about decentralising power, his (Mr Dwivedi’s) statement is right. He is correct when he says that it is good even for the future.” He also countered suggestions that Mr Gandhi had on Thursday ruled himself out of the PM race by saying whether or not he becomes Prime Minister was “irrelevant” and “all smoke”.