DHAKA: Indian prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh will not announce his resignation at a press conference on Friday, as speculated in some newspapers.

Sources in his office said to NDTV.

However, senior leaders in his party say he will set the stage for the projection of Rahul Gandhi as the Congress party’s prime ministerial candidate.
 
Manmohan Singh’s press conference this week is only his second in his current term as prime minister and comes nearly a month after his party endured a humiliating defeat in elections in important states including Delhi.
 
To counter the perception that his party will struggle to reverse its fortune in the national election now just months away, Dr Singh is expected to use his press conference to highlight the accomplishments of his government and to prep the ground for the announcement of Gandhi as his party’s presumptive prime minister.
 
Gandhi, 43, is No 2 in the Congress after his mother, Sonia, who is party president.

BDST: 1310 HRS, DEC 31, 2013
Edited by Robab Rosan, Current Affairs Editor