Manmohan Singh to resign over Sharm el-Sheikh?

Manmohan Singh will be replaced by Sonia Gandhi? Pressure is mounting from within the congress party and opposition due to the controversial Indo-Pak joint statement Prime Minister Manmohan Singh signed on in Egypt last week. There are unconfirmed reports that senior congress leadership has doubts about Manmohan Singh which they have expressed to Sonia Gandhi recently.

Defence Minister AK Antony and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, met Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday. Pranab Mukherjee was conspicuously absencent from the lunch PM hosted for US secretary of state Hillary Clinton on Monday. Both Pranab and Antony are unhappy with the joint statement for de-bracketing terror and composite dialogue and the unprecedented mention of Balochistan.

Senior leadership in Congress feels allowing leeway to his Pakistani counterpart Yusuf Raza Gilani may turn politically a mistake for forthcoming Maharashtra elections. Although the charge made by BJP on Manmohan being “soft-on-terror” did not hurt Congress performance in Delhi assembly elections and Lok Sabha elections, but considering the terror attack on Mumbai this issue will play a bigger role in Maharashtra. There is fear that the diplomatic fiasco in Sharm el-Sheikh will give BJP Shivsena something to talk about just when they were short of issues.

On the other side of border PM Gilani claimed that Manmohan Singh relented to his insistence of not linking resumption of dialogue to Pakistan’s action on terror. Pakistani PM has also portrayed the reference to Balochistan as a major diplomatic gain.

Congress party’s reluctance to give cushion to Manmohan Singh against criticism of the joint statement indicates that senior leadership is having its thoughts. It is surprising the except for the party spokespersons – none of the senior leaders like Pranam Mukherjee, A K Antony and P Chidambaram have come in support of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Some in the party circles feel that it is the right time for Rahul Gandhi to take over the mantle – and his being Prime Minister may help congress in Maharashtra.

It is unlikely that Sonia Gandhi will take action immediately but by just displaying her views on the issue in public will force the prime minister to take a decision himself. Will Manmohan Singh resign over declaration with Pakistan? Will Rahul Gandhi be the new prime Minister? How the things shape up in Congress – we need to wait and watch.

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