This Article is From Apr 13, 2014

Row over PM's former aide's book: 'PM's Office dwarfed by UPA,' blogs Arun Jaitley

Row over PM's former aide's book: 'PM's Office dwarfed by UPA,' blogs Arun Jaitley

File photo of senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley.

Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley has said that the book by Prime Minister's former media advisor Sanjaya Baru only confirms what the country ordinarily suspected. In a post on his website, Mr Jaitley says the PM has to get most decisions approved and ratified by Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

In the 201-page memoir called 'The Accidental PM: the making and unmaking of Manmohan Singh', Dr Sanjaya Baru, who was the PM's advisor between 2004-2008, says Dr Singh was 'defanged' in his second term in office and quotes the latter Singh as having told him that there cannot be two centres of power - an obvious reference to Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

Following is the full text of Mr Jaitley's post:


Dr Sanjay Baru's book 'The Accidental Prime Minister' only confirms what the country ordinarily suspected. The Prime Minister has to take most of his decisions approved and ratified from the Congress President. All sensitive subjects have to be discussed with the person outside the government. The appointments of key officials would be regulated by 10 Janpath. Contracts such as the coal blocks allocations were allotted by the party. Even the venue for the funeral of former Prime Minister PV Narsimha Rao was decided on collateral considerations rather than based on desire of the family.

In a parliamentary democracy, the party system is an essential requirement. However, the accountability in democracy is of the elected representatives and not of the party office-bearers. It is the Prime Minister and his council of ministers, which, through the parliament are accountable to the people. Amongst various institutions which have been dwarfed in the UPA regime, the principal one was the office of the Prime Minister itself. Dr Baru's book confirms this. Prime Ministers are known not by the number of years they have spent in office, but by the footprints they leave behind. The prime ministership is not an employment. It is public service and an exercise by which the leadership is provided to the people. On the eve of relinquishing the office, Dr Manmohan Singh must seriously introspect as to how his tenure impacted on the institution of Prime Minister. Did he have the last word on all subjects? Or is it the system of the original Communist states that was operating, where the party General Secretary was always more important than the Head of the Government. (See his original blog here)
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