Manmohan Singh with Narasimha Rao (Photo courtesy-Twitter)
former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh He was the Prime Minister of the country for 10 years. In the Congress-led UPA, he was elected the Prime Minister of the country for the first time in the year 2004. Sonia Gandhi Bypassing the veteran leaders of the Congress, he Prime Minister selected for the position. After this, when the UPA coalition returned to power again in the year 2009, Sonia Gandhi showed confidence in him. They Congress He is the third Prime Minister of India who remained the Prime Minister of the country for the longest time. Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi remained the Prime Minister of the country for longer than that.
The story of Manmohan Singh entering politics is quite interesting. If we talk about Manmohan Singh, he has been counted as a well-known economist not only in the country but also in the world. The person who brought him into politics was former PM Narasimha Rao. Let us tell you under what circumstances Narasimha Rao found him and brought him into politics and after that Manmohan Singh traveled from Finance Minister to Prime Minister.
Manmohan Singh was the discovery of Narasimha Rao
According to a BBC report, Vinay Sitapati told that when Narasimha Rao became the Prime Minister in the year 1991, he had experience of many ministries. He had held the responsibility of the Ministry of Health and Education. Along with this, he had also worked as the foreign minister of the country.
There was hesitation in his mind regarding the finance ministry. He was not very efficient in this department. On top of this, two days before he became the Prime Minister, Cabinet Secretary Naresh Chandra handed over an eight-page note to him, in which India’s poor economic condition was mentioned. This increased the tension of Narasimha Rao. They needed a face who could hold sway at the international level.
read this also- A call from Sonia and DK Shivkumar agreed on the formula of Congress
Rao asked his most trusted advisor PC Alexander to suggest the name of the finance minister. Alexander suggested him the name of IG Patel, who had been the governor of the Reserve Bank of India. Along with this, he was also the director of the London School of Economics. Sitapati told that IG Patel was living in Vadodara. Did not want to come to Delhi because of mother’s illness. After this, Alexander suggested making Manmohan Singh the Finance Minister.
‘Manmohan Singh was sleeping’
A day before the swearing-in ceremony of the Narasimha Rao government, Alexander called Manmohan Singh. Manmohan had returned from abroad only a few hours back. That’s why he was sleeping. When he was offered the post of finance minister over the phone, he could not believe it. Rao called Manmohan Singh three hours before his swearing-in and said that he wanted to make him his finance minister. Along with this, he also said that if we are successful then both will get the credit for it but if it does not happen then you will have to go.
Rao was angry with the draft budget
Two weeks before the general budget of the year 1991, the then Finance Minister Manmohan Singh brought a draft of the budget to show Narasimha Rao. Seeing this, he got angry and said that is why I had chosen you. In his first budget, Manmohan Singh opened the door for liberalisation, and after that economic development in the country picked up a historic pace. After this, he later became the Prime Minister of the country.
