I strayed into politics by accident: PM

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Thursday that he had strayed into politics by sheer accident.

"I am basically a teacher. I have strayed into politics by sheer accident," the prime minister told the golden jubilee celebrations of Lady Shri Ram College for women in New Delhi.

"And it always pleases me to come back to academic institutions which have done so well and to see so many young bright faces that thrill my heart because I see in them the future of our country."

Then prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao picked him as finance minister in 1991 when Manmohan Singh, an academic and a respected economist, ushered in economic reforms that have transformed the Indian economy.