PM's office denies Sanjaya Baru book claims on Manmohan Singh; calls them 'fiction'

The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) came clean in the most recent controversy generated following claims made in a book published by Sanjaya Baru, former media adviser to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

In it, Baru provides an insight into the "cautious equation" between the PM and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, and Singh's "often troubled" relations with his ministers.

Denying all claims, the PM's office put out a short statement, saying, "It is an attempt to misuse a privileged position and access to high office to gain credibility and to apparently exploit it for commercial gain."

The book by Baru, a senior editor and the PM's media adviser between 2004 and 2008,  paints a picture of a leader losing "all vestiges of control over his own government". He quotes Singh as having told him that there cannot be two centres of power.

The PMO, however, discredits the book as 'fiction', saying, "The commentary smacks of fiction and coloured views of a former adviser."

The PMO also adds that the question about comments of the former media adviser were raised by the media when they met the prime minister in October last year. To which, Manmohan Singh had answered, "Do not believe all he is saying."

Baru further writes that after he had led the Congress party to electoral victory in 2009, Singh had made "the cardinal mistake of imagining the victory was his".

The BJP attacked the Congress over the book, saying it has proven true its charge of a dual power centre involving Sonia Gandhi and Singh in which she had the final word.