M A I N   N E W S

PMO defends Manmohan, trashes weak PM remarks
Admits UPA-II not as successful as UPA-I; blames slowdown
Ashok Tuteja
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 18
The Prime Minister’s Office on Friday vehemently denied that Manmohan Singh was a weak PM who turned a blind eye to cases of corruption during his two terms in office.

At a press conference at the Press Club of India, Pankaj Pachauri, Communications Adviser to the PM, also acknowledged that the UPA-II was not as successful as the UPA-I primarily due to the global slowdown. He dismissed the perception that there were two centres of power (the PM and Congress president Sonia Gandhi) during the UPA’s two terms.

“The PM has gone on record to say he has been able to complete 10 years in office without hiccups due to his understanding with the Congress president... the system has worked exceedingly well.”

The PM's former Media Adviser Sanjaya Baru’s had contended in his book ‘The Accidental Prime Minister: The Making and Unmaking of Manmohan Singh’ that Manmohan Singh had been "defanged" by the Congress in his second term with Sonia Gandhi deciding on key appointments to the Cabinet.

On Baru’s memoir that caused ripples in political circles, Pachauri said the PMO had already issued two statements, Manmohan Singh’s family had reacted to it and the Congress, too, had issued a long and considered statement on the issue. “I don’t think there is anything new to say about it.’’

Asked if the PM’s Media Adviser could indeed be as close to the PM as was being made out by Baru in his memoir, he said while he could not react to that, but as far as he was concerned, he would do his own job and not bother about what else was happening in the PMO.

On the book written by former Coal Secretary PC Parakh in which he has blamed the PM for the coal scam, Pachauri said the PMO had put out umpteen number of releases on the issue and Manmohan Singh had also spoken about it in Parliament on several occasions.

Countering the charge that Manmohan Singh had not communicated with the public as much as he should have, he said the PM made nearly 1,200 speeches during his two terms, touching upon issues such as economy, development, education, science and agriculture. “It's not that the PM has not been talking, but because of the nature of the media, his messages have not reached the general public.”

When asked why the PM hadn't been seen much in Congress' poll campaign, the PM’s aide replied that Manmohan Singh had addressed four rallies so far. “The Congress party decides about the PM's election rallies.”