New Delhi, Monday 06 September 2010: Rejecting perceptions that there was a disconnect between his government and the Congress party, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Monday that expression of different view points was not “necessarily a bad thing“.

He did not see anything wrong in ministers and party functionaries expressing different points of view because the Congress party itself was a movement within which there have been differences of opinion as happens in a democracy.

However, it was necessary for the Cabinet and the government to function with a “certain degree of cohesion” and his Cabinet had functioned with a “much greater degree of cohesion” than even the first Cabinet headed by Jawaharlal Nehru, Dr. Singh told a group of editors at his residence here.

He pointed out that there was almost daily exchange of letters between Nehru and his deputy Sardar Patel. There were differences between Indira Gandhi and her deputy Morarji Desai.

During Mrs Gandhi’s time a group of “Young Turks” led by Chandrashekhar openly constituted a dissident group, he said during the 80-minute interaction that turned into a virtual press conference covering domestic political issues, economy and foreign policy.

Prime Minister emphasised that he was not aware of anything that could constitute a disconnect between the Congress party and the government. “Allowing people to express views is not necessarily a sign of drift,” he said.

“I can’t say I will shut up every colleague,” he said, at the same time thanking his Cabinet colleagues for their fullest support. The Prime Minister made it clear that he was not thinking of retiring and indicated that he would “look at options” of a Cabinet reshuffle before the next session of Parliament beginning Nov 7.

“I would like to reduce the average age of my Cabinet,” he said with a chuckle.