New Delhi: India has deputed two senior election officials and its Ambassador to Myanmar to oversee elections in that country.
Indian Ambassador to Myanmar VS Sheshadri, Manipur Chief Electoral Officer PC Lawmkunga and his Assam counterpart Maninder Singh will be observing the elections in Myanmar, the External Affairs Ministry said.
Voters in Myanmar are on Sunday casting ballots in historic polls seen as a test of the military-dominated regime's reforms, in which opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is standing for the first time.
Under one of the many scenarios being worked out, Manmohan Singh will likely step down as Prime Minister right after the Budget session of Parliament and be elevated to the post of President, making way for a younger leader – most likely Rahul Gandhi – to take over.
In fact, by some accounts, Manmohan Singh is believed to have already offered to resign, but has been urged by Congress president Sonia Gandhi to hold on until after the Budget session so as to put an effective succession plan in place. “Madam sees this as a chance to revive the party’s fortunes,” a senior leader who is privy to the imminent changes told Firstpost on condition of anonymity. “And you know what, she might just be able to pull it off.”
He, therefore, sounded out Sonia Gandhi and offered to resign, the source added. “He feels he’s played the role of Casabianca to perfection – you know, the boy who stood on the burning deck whence all but he had fled.” But now, Manmohan Singh evidently feels it’s time for him to bail out and “salvage what he can of his reputation that has been tarnished “ – particularly over the past three years since an avalanche of scams overran the government under his watch.
Sources close to 10, Janpath confirm that Manmohan Singh did meet Sonia Gandhi on Saturday. But they have a different account of what transpired at that meeting.
“It was Madam who, with the power of suggestion, gently steered the Prime Minister into offering to resign,” said the source. “The fact of it is that Madam realises that Dr Manmohan Singh’s utility as a front-office man who can be the shock absorber – for the party and the First Family – is past its sell-by date.”
From that account, Sonia Gandhi commiserated with Manmohan Singh’s angst, and agreed that a man so erudite ought not to have his name dragged into every petty corruption scandal. When Manmohan Singh then offered to resign, she feigned disappointment, but suggested that he hold on until after the Budget session of Parliament so that she could put a succession plan in place.
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