NEW DELHI - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday reiterated that Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi has all the qualities to be a good prime minister and said he would prefer ‘at some stage’ in his possible second term to hand over power to someone younger than himself.

Speaking to CNN-IBN news channel, the prime minister also said that in 2004, Congress president Sonia Gandhi had informed him just 48 before he was sworn in prime minister that he was the man selected.

Asked by the channel if he is re-elected PM, ‘would he like to finish the entire term, or would he maybe midterm think about handing it over to someone else - obviously everyone would think of Rahul Gandhi?’

‘I have said Rahul Gandhi has all the qualities a good PM should have. I certainly at some stage would like the seat of power should be in the hands of younger people than I am,’ he said.

Asked if he had any regrets about things he couldn’t do in his first term, which he would like to do in his second term?

‘I’d like to work on agriculture, education and rural health,’ he replied.

Asked how he felt when told that he had been named prime minister after the 2004 elections, Manmohan Singh said: ‘Mrs. Gandhi told me 48 hours before. I tried to resist, to argue that she was the best person to unify the party.’

‘I told her I had my limitations that I have no mass following, but she said ‘No’ she had looked around and I would have to undertake the responsibility. And the faith she had in me added to the burden of the office I was going to assume.’