India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has announced that he will not stay in the post if his Congress party wins the next election, due in the summer. The 81-year-old has been leader for almost a decade.
Mr Singh said on Friday that a Congress candidate would be named at the appropriate time, but that deputy leader Rahul Gandhi had "outstanding credentials".
He said it would be "disastrous for the country" if opposition leader Narendra Modi were elected as Prime Minister.
Mr Modi leads the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which recently beat Congress in assembly elections in four politically crucial states, the BBC reports.
"Someone who presided over the massacre of innocent people should not be the prime minister," Mr Singh said in uncharacteristically harsh words for Mr Modi.
Mr Modi is the chief minister of the western state of Gujarat and has been accused of doing little to stop the 2002 anti-Muslim riots there which left more than 1000 people dead. He has always denied any wrongdoing.
The BJP condemned Mr Singh's remark, saying Mr Modi had made Gujarat "a model of development for the country".
For the past 10 years, Mr Singh has headed a coalition government led by Congress. He has often been criticised for not speaking out more forcefully. Friday's news conference was only the third such briefing during his whole term of office.