Congress will be single largest party: PM

LUDHIANA - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Monday that he was confident the Congress would ‘at worst’ emerge as the single largest party after the Lok Sabha elections.

‘At worst, the Congress will emerge as the single largest party,’ the prime minister told reporters here, adding there was no question of backing the Left if it wanted to take power.

Answering another question, he said it would be desirable if the number of political parties in the country were fewer.

But he hastened to add that he did not want to imply that he was against regional parties. ‘Regional parties are a reality.’