Manmohan Singh as PM a mistake, Congress should sit in Opposition after 2014, says Mani Shankar Aiyar

Senior Congress leader on Tuesday said the party’s decision to make Manmohan Singh the Prime Minister after 2009 elections was a mistake and said he looked forward to the party losing in the 2014 general elections.

In an interview to a news channel, Aiyar said he had opposed the idea to make Manmohan Singh the prime minister but Congress leaders did not listen to him

Earlier in an op-ed piece in The Indian Express, he said “as a Congressman, I greatly welcome Sunday’s electoral reverses”.

“I also look forward to our probably occupying the opposition benches after the mid-2014 Lok Sabha elections,” he said

“The reason for this paradox, he said, “is that for at least the last quarter of a century, my party has been in desperate need of a root and branch restructuring.”

He said Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi wanted to transform the party and “the distraction of running a government will impede the long-term restoration of the party”.

He said a break from governance would be “a welcome break that could be used to refit Congress as the nation’s natural party of governance in the 21st century”.

“The current and prospective electoral reverses for the Congress are thus Rahul’s golden opportunity,” he said.