Sonia lowered the dignity of PM post: Rajnath

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh launched a scathing attack on Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Monday, charging her with lowering the dignity of the Prime Minister’s post by ‘remote controlling’ the Manmohan Singh government.

Referring to the book, The Accidental Prime Minister: The Making and Unmaking of Manmohan Singh, written by Singh’s former media advisor, Sanjaya Baru, Rajnath said Gandhi, by controlling the reins of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, had not only lowered the dignity of the PM’s post, but sullied India’s reputation as well.

“I have not read the book. But on the basis of media reports, I can say it was most damaging for the PM’s post and the country to remote control the PM,” Rajnath said here.

The recently released book had claimed Manmohan Singh could not assert his full authority before his council of ministers and bureaucrats under the shadow of Gandhi.

However, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has rubbished Baru’s claims that Singh was undermined by Gandhi. The PMO termed such claims as “fiction” and “coloured” and rubbished the charge that important files were seen by Gandhi as “baseless and mischievous”.

Meanwhile, Rajnath slammed UPA for the alleged failure on several fronts, including diplomatic, employment, internal and external security.