MANMOHAN SINGH INSTALLED AS INDIA'S 14TH PRIME MINISTER
May 22 New Delhi: Manmohan Singh, an
academic turned politician, was inaugurated India's 14th prime minister
today at the head of a Congress party-led government, taking the helm of
the world's second-most-populous nation from Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Singh took the oath of office from President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in a
ceremony at the chandeliered Ashoka Hall in Rashtrapati Bhavan, the
340-room Viceroy's palace in New Delhi that was turned into the
presidential home after Independence from Britain in 1947.
The 71-year-old Sikh is becoming premier after Sonia Gandhi led the
Congress to a surprise victory over Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata Party.
Singh, who began India's market-opening policies when he was finance
minister from 1991-96, has to work with a dozen coalition partners, and
communists who oppose a state asset-sale program that helped Vajpayee
trim the budget deficit to a six-year low.
''The new prime minister has an excellent record over the years as being
an economic reformer,'' said John Taylor, the U.S. Treasury
undersecretary for international affairs. ''I would very much hope they
stick to the things that cause economic growth in India and Asia and in
neighboring countries.''
Singh's Congress won 145 seats in the 545-member lower house of
parliament and will form the government with the support of 72 members
from a dozen other parties. Backing from communists gives him the
support of another 56 members in the powerful lower house of parliament.
India's three-week long general elections ended on May 10 and results
were announced on May 13.
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