NEW DELHI, 20 May 2004 — Manmohan Singh, the architect of India’s economic reforms, was named prime minister yesterday, ending weeks of political turmoil that climaxed with Sonia Gandhi’s refusal to take the post.

Manmohan, 71, and Congress party leader Sonia met last night with President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam who approved Manmohan’s bid to form a minority government.

It capped a day of violent protests by Sonia’s supporters and resignations by some senior party officials who had wanted her to change her mind and take the helm of the world’s largest democracy.

“I am happy to inform the nation the president has invited me to form the next government,” Manmohan, wearing a light blue turban, told reporters after emerging from Kalam’s ornate, colonial-era palace.

Sonia was by his side and they appeared at ease, laughing when reporters shouted questions at them. Their smiles belied the fact that Congress has been thrown into turmoil at a time when it should be basking in the glory of its shock election victory last week.

Despite the protests, Congress lawmakers elected Manmohan as their parliamentary leader before he met the president. He will be the first Sikh prime minister of mainly Hindu India since independence from Britain in 1947 and could take an oath of office as early as today.

Manmohan immediately signaled strong support for financial markets, which earlier this week took an unprecedented dive fearing Sonia would form an unstable government, held hostage by allies in two Communist parties who oppose many economic changes including the widespread sale of state assets.

Although she has stood aside, Italian-born Sonia, 57, is likely to be the power behind Manmohan’s throne. She retains organizational control of Congress as well as her own parliamentary seat. Before his appointment, Manmohan described Sonia as “his leader” and said he would be “no substitute” for her. Sonia has proved herself to be an effective and powerful political operator, by scoring a surprise victory over now ousted Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s National Democratic Alliance.

Many blamed her decision not to take the prime ministership on personal attacks by Hindu fundamentalists who did not want a foreign-born woman leading the nation of one billion people.

Yesterday’s uproar erupted with news that Sonia and her senior aides had swung their support behind Manmohan.

Outraged party workers broke into Congress headquarters, next to Sonia’s house in the capital, knocking down doors and smashing windows and demanding she reverse her decision. By yesterday afternoon, a crowd of more than 2,000 had gathered outside.

Supporters nationwide held sit-ins and marched in the streets. They burned effigies of the leaders of the outgoing government, and blocked traffic with burning tires.

“We feel very let down. All the work I did in the past two months has been wasted,” said Abdul Ghani Khan, a Congress leader in the northern state of Jammu and Kashmir.