Manmohan Singh had little political authority over government, says PC Parakh

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, April 14, 2014: In yet another major embarrassment for the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, former Coal Secretary PC Parakh has claimed that the PM was running a government in which he had ’little’ political authority.

In his book "Crusader or Conspirator? Coalgate and other Truths" to be released on Monday, Parakh, who retired as Coal secretary in December 2005, recalled an incident when he had gone to meet the Prime Minister on a farewell call after submitting his resignation to the then Cabinet Secretary B K Chaturvedi.

The 68-year-old author said in his book that he had submitted his resignation after BJP MP Dharmendra Pradhan had insulted him during a Parliamentary Standing Committee meeting and no response coming from the governments

"On August 17, 2005 I met the Prime Minister for a farewell call. I wanted to express my concern at the insult and humiliation that members of Parliament heap on civil servants and senior executives of public service undertakings," he said in his book published by Manas publications

Parakh, against whom the CBI has registered a case in coal block allocation, said the Prime Minister expressed anguish and stated that "he (Singh) faced similar problems everyday. But it would not be in the national interest if he was to offer his resignation on every such issue."

"I do not know if the country would have got a better Prime Minister if Dr Manmohan Singh had resigned, instead of facing the humiliation of his own ministers not implementing or reversing his decision.

By continuing to head a government in which he had little political authority, his image has been seriously dented by 2G scam and coalgate although he has had a spotless record of personal integrity," the author observed.

Parakh while referring to the conversation with Singh said it had become clear that there was little chance of lasting reform in the coal sector with the limitations within which the Prime Minister functioned.

Meanwhile, on Sunday the Prime Minister’s Office rubbished the claims made in a book written by Sanjaya Baru, former media adviser to PM, that Sonia Gandhi was the remote control in UPA government and PM Manmohan Singh played a second fiddle to her.

The PMO has also said that the former media adviser took advantage of his former position.

"The statement being attributed to a former media advisEr to the Prime Minister that PMO files were seen by the Congress President, Smt. Sonia Gandhi is completely baseless and mischievous. It is categorically denied that any PMO file has ever been shown to Smt. Sonia Gandhi," PMO spokesman Pankaj Pachauri said in a statement.

Pachauri was responding to the claims by Baru in his book ’Accidental Prime Minister: The Making and Unmaking of Manmohan Singh’.