Kochi: Former prime minister Manmohan Singh today praised Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi for his "hard work" in the run-up to elections in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat and expressed the hope that the party would emerge victorious.  

Politics, he added, was an "unpredictable profession" and one could only try. He was talking to reporters on the sidelines of a seminar on "Macro Economic Developments in India: Policy Perspectives" at St Teresa's College, Ernakulam.  

Responding to a question on the Congress' chances of winning Himachal Pradesh and BJP-ruled Gujarat, he said, "I think our vice president Rahul Gandhi is doing very hard work and I hope his efforts will be crowned with success. But politics is an unpredictable profession... One doesn't know... one keeps trying."  

Singh added that he was not a prophet to foresee whether the people's anger against the BJP-led Central government's decision to implement GST and demonetisation would be reflected in the election.  

"Well I can only hope.. I am not a prophet," the former prime minister said. PTI