Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he will anytime welcome Rahul Gandhi as the Prime Minister and further maintained that the question of his third tenure is hypothetical.

Speaking to reporters in New Delhi on the sidelines of the civil investiture ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhawan, he said that the question of his third tenure as Prime Minister is hypothetical.

He added that the issue of dual power centre is a useless debate and it is basically a media creation.

Dr. Singh also lauded Rahul Gandhi’s address to the industry leaders yesterday.

Pressed further by reporters on whether he was ruling himself out, Singh remarked cryptically, “I am not ruling it in, I am not ruling it out.”

His comments assume significance as there is a clamour in the Congress for projecting 42-year-old Rahul Gandhi as the party’s Prime Ministerial candidate in the Lok Sabha elections next year.

Earlier, last week, 80-year-old Singh had said “We will cross that bridge when we reach there” when he was asked whether he would accept another term in office if offered.

During today’s brief interaction with mediapersons in the Rashtrapati Bhawan after presentation of Padma Awards, Singh, however, said he would welcome “any day” Rahul Gandhi as the Prime Minister.

He dismissed as “useless” the debate over two power centres – one the Congress President Sonia Gandhi and another the Prime Minister.

“This is the creation of the media. It is a useless debate,” he said when asked about the issue of two power centres coming into focus after senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh raked it up recently.

Digvijaya Singh had said the two power centres had not worked well and should not be repeated.