Minister for Rural Development Raghuvansh Prasad Singh on Monday declared that the United Progressive Alliance combination would return to power despite the Bharatiya Janata Party's claim that it was going to come to power.
He blamed the media for creating differences between the Left parties and the UPA. He was addressing mediapersons on the eve of three day ministerial conference on rural development to be held in New Delhi beginning from Tuesday.
"The media has been writing against the Indo-US civil nuclear deal. I am confident that sooner or later it would be sorted out," Raghuvansh said.
When asked why there were so many problems between the Left and the Congress and why they were meeting time and again, Raghuvansh said, "In democracy the political parties meet often to discuss various issues. We are not like the BJP where one man from the top issues a directive."
He dismissed the claims of Lal Kishenchand Advani that he would become the next prime minister of India.
"Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has led the nation and he will continue to lead the UPA," he said.
Raghuvansh declared that the Rashtriya Janata Dal was a secular party and this would be proved by the national executive to be held soon.
Talking about ministers from six nations participating in the conference on rural development, Raghuvansh claimed that the delegates from various nations have a lot to learn India's project on rural developments. Some of them according to the him were highly impressed by the Metro rail.
"I would like to put all of them on the Metro, but there are security problems. We will take them somewhere nearby and make big strides in various fields including women empowerment," Raghuvansh said.
Shakeel Ahmed, spokesman of the Congress party, admitted that Tamil Nadu chief minister being a veteran politician can contribute in solving the ongoing tussle between the UPA and the Left parties.
"Every politician has his own thinking and can contribute in his own manner," Ahmed said.
According to Congress sources the meeting between External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and UPA alliance partners would take place on June 25 at 5 pm instead of 4 pm and it has not been postponed to June 28 as was reported in a section of the press a couple of days back.
"We have carried the Left parties with us so far and we would still like to carry them with us," Ahmed claimed.
He refused to name Dr Singh as the next leader of the Congress party should there be elections in case the government falls over Indo-US nuclear deal.
"We have a tradition that we do not project anyone as the prime minister. After the elections, the Congress parliamentary board will sit and decide who should lead the party," he said.
