Prime Minister Manmohan Singh bids goodbye to personal staff

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today personally bid goodbye to his personal staff in his South Block office while thanking them for their assistance.

He met 110 personal staff members and expressed his gratitude towards them, sources said.

Singh, who became the Prime Minister in 2004, met them in the PMO where he was also greeted by 400 peripheral staff members who gave him a thunderous applause in the corridors of the South Block, they said.

The Prime Minister will hold his last Cabinet meeting on Saturday after which he will go and meet President Pranab Mukherjee.

After returning from his meeting with the President, Singh will address the nation, the sources said.

On the same day, Singh will host a high tea for the members of his Council of Ministers after which the President will hold a dinner for all of them.

The PMO is being refurbished, particularly the upholstery, to welcome a new Prime Minister.