Khurshid confident of UPA-III coming to power

External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Saturday said the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) will form a government at the Centre for a third consecutive term under the leadership of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Khurshid, however, hinted that the UPA would have new alliance partners in the future.

"I have absolutely no doubt at all that there will be a UPA-III. But UPA-I was different from UPA-II. It is inevitable, that with passage of time, with experience, and with people re-working their priorities; there has to be some change in contours. And therefore, UPA-III may be different from UPA-II. We started in UPA-II with some allies who are not with us anymore. If they come back, it will look more like UPA-II, if they don't come back, it will not look like UPA-II. If somebody else joins us, it will look even more different from UPA-II," said Khurshid.

"But I am quite confident, as you can see from my face, that we will be back and we will be giving similar interviews to you in future," he added, whether the UPA-III will be formed under Manmohan Singh's leadership.

The External Affairs Minister's remark comes at a time when the ruling Congress Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are leaving no stone unturned in garnering public support for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

The next general elections are being seen by many as a direct contest between Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi and the BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, who have begun addressing rallies throughout the country to achieve their respective goals.