Tewari releases DAVP calendar, says Rahul inherent leader of Congress

Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari on Tuesday released the annual calendar of Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP), which aims at spreading awareness about the government run schemes.

"Through this calendar, the DAVP has attempted to tell the story of India's transformation in the past ten years," Tewari said after launching the calendar.

"In the last ten years, we have been able to maintain the social cohesion and communal harmony in India. This has led to the economic fillip across different areas. All this has been eloquently captured in this calendar. Though today everybody is in possession of a mobile and can play their day on it, still the calendar, irrespective of it being a desk calendar or wall calendar, does have its own place," he added.

Asked to comment on the report that during Prime Minister's press conference on January 3, whether Dr. Manmohan Singh will announce that he would step down at the end of the present term, Tewari said, "By commenting on this news, I will not grace this news."

"I do believe that there is lack of news stories on December 31 but it doesn't mean that misleading and fallacious news should be published. This shows that there is a need for accountability in media," he added.

On a likely announcement of the prime ministerial candidate of the Congress during the All India Congress Committee (AICC) meeting on January 17, Tewari said, "Rahul is the inherent leader of the Congress party,"

"There is no shortage of personalities in the Congress party. We have Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi which forms our 'Trimurti'. Concerning the announcement of prime ministerial candidate, Congress president has already articulated that it will be done at an appropriate time. There is no need for hurry in this." he added.