Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with President Pranab Mukherjee after submitting his resignation on Saturday. (Photo: PTI)
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday chaired the last meeting of the Union Cabinet and took the decision to recommend dissolution of the Lok Sabha. This has now drawn curtains on the term of the 15th Lok Sabha, which will go down in history as the most disrupted and wasted in Independent India. The recommendation was then handed over to President Pranab Mukherjee.
Following the Cabinet meeting, Dr Singh, who helmed the government for 10 eventful years, bowed out of the Prime Minister’s Office, claiming that he had tried to do his best in serving the country and his tenure was an “open book”.
In a televised address to the nation, the Prime Minister, while bidding adieu, said the judgment delivered by the people in the elections should be respected by all and wished the incoming government every success.
“I address you today for the last time as Prime Minister of India. Ten years ago, when I was entrusted with this responsibility, I entered upon it with diligence as my tool, truth as my beacon and a prayer that I might always do the right thing,” Dr Singh said in his address.