Books intended to 'spoil hopes' of UPA in polls: Farooq

Union Minister Farooq Abdullah today said that controversial books coming out in the time of elections were aimed at "spoiling" the chances of the UPA in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls.

"The aim of these books (coming out now) is that it will create an upheaval and spoil the hopes of UPA (in the elections). That is the objective behind these books," Abdullah told reporters after paying obeisance at the shrine of Sheikh Hamza Makhdoom in old city.

Books written by former coal secretary P C Parakh and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's former media advisor Sanjaya Baru have hogged headlines lately due to their controversial revelations.

Abdullah alleged the authors of these books wanted to make some quick bucks as well.

"They also hope to earn some money," he said.

Parakh, who retired as Coal Secretary in 2005, has painted a picture of a helpless Prime Minister (Manmohan Singh) being unable to control his ministers who had scuttled his move for reforms in the coal ministry and lashed out at MPs as "blackmailers and extortionists".

His book titled "Crusader or Conspirator? Coalgate and other Truths" was released at function in New Delhi yesterday.

Earlier, Baru's book 'The Accidental Prime Minister - The Making and Unmaking Of Manmohan Singh' in which the former aide of the Prime Minister claimed that Congress president Sonia Gandhi decided key appointments to the Cabinet and to the PMO, had triggered a controversy.