Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday ruled out his resignation following Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi's outburst on an ordinance to shield convicted lawmakers.
"There is no question of resigning," he told reporters on board his special aircraft while returning from New York after a meeting with US President Barack Obama and attending the UN General Assembly session.
He also said that he does not get "upset easily".
Gandhi had said that the ordinance that was passed by the cabinet, headed by Manmohan Singh, was "complete nonsense" and should be "torn down and thrown away."
‘Will discuss Rahul's concerns’
Singh said that he will discuss the concerns of Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on the ordinance concerning convicted lawmakers.
"I have seen Mr. Rahul Gandhi's statement. When issues are raised in a democratic polity, the right course is to discuss the issues," the prime minister told media persons on board his special aircraft on his way back from the US.
‘Moving towards normalisation of ties with Pakistan’
The PM added that his talks with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif were a sign of moving towards normalising relations.
Singh, who met Sharif in New York on Sunday, also said that Sharif had said "all the right things" about India-Pakistan relations. He said he hoped and prayed that the Pakistani prime minister succeeds "in carrying out his mission".
"In a sense we are moving forward towards normalisation of our relations," he told reporters on board his special aircraft while returning from New York.
The Indian and Pakistani prime ministers met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session.
The meeting aimed at restarting the dialogue between the two nations in the wake of stalled talks over border killings and a terror attack in Jammu by Pakistani militants.
‘Secular forces must fight Modi onslaught’
Singh came out for the first time strongly against BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, saying he hoped all secular forces would combine "to face the onslaught of people like Narendra Modi".
Answering a question on whether Modi's emergence was a threat to India's secular polity, the prime minister said, without mincing words: "I sincerely hope that all secular forces would combine to face the onslaught of people like Mr. Narendra Modi.
"And I have every reason to believe that that will happen. You wait for some time before the people realise what they are up against," he said, as he addressed the media while flying home after attending the UN General Assembly.
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