Much to the surprise of Manmohan Singh, who had no background in politics, he was asked to become the finance minister of the country. Two decades later, Manmohan Singh became the first Sikh Prime Minister of the country and stayed in power for two consecutive terms. (Express Archives)When UPA won the general elections in 2004, to everyone’s surprise party president Sonia Gandhi announced Manmohan Singh as the Prime Minister. The 2G spectrum allocation scam and the Commonwealth Games scandal hit the image of the Manmohan Singh government hard. After two successive terms as Prime Minister, Singh resigned from his position at the end of his term on May 17, 2014 and declared that he would not contest in the 2014 elections.

Source: Indian Express September 26, 2016 11:16 UTC