By IANS,
New Delhi: The Congress Tuesday justified the power sharing structure in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and hinted that it could be followed in the future as well.
“The relationship which exists between the Congress president (Sonia Gandhi) and the prime minister (Manmohan Singh) is unique and something which has never been seen before. Perhaps this should be the ideal model for the future also,” Congress general secretary Janardan Dwivedi told reporters.
The power structure was formulated in 2004 with Sonia Gandhi leading the Congress and Manmohan Singh heading the UPA government.
The issue came into focus after Congress leader Digvijaya Singh recently said that the twin power structure did not work well and that Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi should not choose a prime minister in case the party formed a government after 2014 general elections.
“I feel this model hasn’t worked very well. There should not be two power centres. I think whoever is the prime minister must have the authority to function,” Digvijaya Singh had said.
There has been speculation that Rahul Gandhi may choose a similar model if the Congress is able to form the next government at the centre in 2014, especially in the light of his utterances that the party, and not power, is his priority.
The twin power structure in the UPA has come under criticism in the past amid alleged differences between the party and the government on issues related to key legislations, large corruption scandals resulting in perceived policy paralysis and handling of civil society protests.