Restless oppsition trying to force early elections: Manmohan Singh

Taking the attack to the opposition, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh tonight accused certain "forces" of trying to destabilise polity and said that a "restless opposition" was attempting to force early
elections.

He told journalists travelling with him on board Air India One from New York back home that the opposition had found "some weak points" in his government and therefore, feel they can force elections.

"This is not the way. This government has the mandate for five years. It will stay its course and we will do so," an assertive Singh said.

Admitting that there could be a problem of perception about his government, he said there was a need to correct that.

He then went on to add that he suspected that there were "other forces", which he did not identify, who wanted to "destabilise our polity".

Speaking in the backdrop of perceived differences between Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Home Minister P Chidambaram, Singh maintained that he was not aware of any "ministerial fight" being talked about in the media.

His comments came at a time when he is seeking to put an end to the controversy triggered by a Finance Ministry note which suggested that Chidambaram as Finance Minister in 2008 should have insisted on auctioning of 2G spectrum, a failure which led to the scam.