Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi will meet the nation’s president later today to stake a claim to forming the next government, buoyed by the support of regional parties.
Singh’s Congress-led alliance scored the biggest election win in two decades on May 16, capturing about 260 lower-house seats, leaving it needing just a dozen more for a majority. Several parties have submitted letters of support to President Pratibha Patil’s office, taking backing for the ruling United Progressive Alliance above 300 lawmakers.
The two leaders will meet Patil at 5 p.m. local time, Congress party spokesman Janardan Dwivedi told reporters in New Delhi today after a meeting of the governing coalition. Gandhi was endorsed as the head of the ruling alliance, said Mamata Banerjee of the All India Trinamool Congress, a key ally, while Singh was backed as prime minister in the incoming government.
Singh is expected to name his ministerial team this week, with Pranab Mukherjee favorite to retain the finance portfolio as the new government plots a way out of the economic downturn. Rahul Gandhi, Sonia’s son and the Congress party’s star campaigner during the election, may join the cabinet.
Singh, 76, will enjoy greater stability in his second term as premier, no longer having to depend on the support of communist parties for survival. Still, the constituents of the next government will only be known after the existing alliance decides on the additional backing it will take on board.
The Communists, whose support was key to propping up the outgoing government for most of its five-year term, stalled a bill to raise the foreign investment ceiling for insurers to 49 percent from 26 percent. Singh also failed to pass a bill aimed at removing a 10 percent cap on the voting rights of foreign investors in non-state banks. His plan to permit global retailers into India also foundered.
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