PMO plans farewell speech from Manmohan

May 09, 2014 08:36 pm | Updated December 04, 2021 11:25 pm IST - NEW DELHI:

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who declared in January that he would not seek a third term, is likely to address the nation for the final time as premier after the election results are out on May 16. The speech will be pre-recorded at his residence and telecast on Doordarshan later the same day or on the next, according to PMO sources.

“There is no decision yet on when the speech will be telecast,” PMO sources told The Hindu .

Doordarshan has been sounded out in advance as there is no precedent of an outgoing Prime Minister making a televised farewell speech. Dr. Singh, the longest serving Prime Minister after Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, is expected to not only showcase the achievements of his decade at the helm but possibly also respond to his detractors, who have billed him as the “ >weakest premier ever ”.

With opinion polls and pre-poll surveys suggesting an electoral debacle for the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance, most political pundits have ruled out a third term for the current dispensation.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.