Manmohan to be PM candidate, indicates Sonia

Sonia Gandhi expressed confidence that PM Manmohan Singh would unfurl the national flag from the ramparts of the Red Fort next year too.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday expressed confidence that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would unfurl the national flag from the ramparts of the Red Fort next year too.

Gandhi and Singh were speaking to reporters soon after the Congress president hoisted the tricolour at the AICC headquarters at Akbar Road in New Delhi.

Asked whether he would unfurl the national flag next year too from Red Fort after doing it for the last time in this tenure and for five years in a row, the Prime Minister said ‘hopefully’. At this, Gandhi added, ‘why not, certainly’.

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Singh also appealed to all sections to maintain peace in Jammu and Kashmir during his brief interaction with reporters.

Both of them refused to take further questions.

The function at the AICC headquarters began soon after the main I-Day programme at Red Fort was over with top Congress leaders and several Union Ministers attending the flag-hoisting ceremony.

AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Home Minister Shivraj Patil were amongst those present in the function. Most of the AICC general secretaries and secretaries too were there.

The Sewa Dal volunteers sang the national anthem after Gandhi hoisted the national flag. The Congress president sang along.