By IANS,
On Board Air India One : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said national elections would be held on schedule and there was no move to advance the dates due to the current financial crisis.
“Elections will be held on schedule,” the prime minister said on his way back from the Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy hosted by US President George W. Bush in Washington Saturday.
“It has no bearing on the elections, he replied when asked if the financial crisis would have an impact on when the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, which took office May 22, 2004, intended to hold the next elections.
“I think, as I said, the crisis is not our making. What I would like is for the people of India to judge us by the response of our government to this crisis,” said the prime minister.
“We acted in time, and while the rest of the world is in doom and gloom, we will still maintain a growth rate of 7.5 percent. Growth with stability, more socially inclusive growth is a reality and will remain a reality despite the onslaught of the adverse turn in our external environment.”