Manmohan Singh had expressed full faith in ex-coal secretary PC Parakh, reveals book

NEW DELHI: Former coal secretary PC Parakh’s memoirs may have come as a second shock to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after his former media adviser Sanjay Baru’s book, especially since he backed Parakh in 2005 even as the then coal minister Shibu Soren accused the bureaucrat of being a stooge of the previous BJP-led National Democratic Alliance regime.

The confidential letters exchanged between the PM, Soren, Parakh and then cabinet secretary BK Chaturvedi published in the book reveal that the prime minister expressed "full faith" in the coal secretary and ignored Soren’s letter to him stating that Parakh could create a rift in the ruling coalition.

"The secretary (coal) is an appointee of Chandrababu Naidu during NDA government. I normally overlook political leanings of the officers working in the ministry. But I feel that even a secretary can work to create a rift in the UPA. I do feel that the secretaries working in the Centre do not care about Adivasi ministers. Please understand my feelings and change the present secretary (coal) immediately," Soren had written to the PM.

Soren, whom Parakh has accused of rent-seeking and running a coal mafia in his book, also complained to the PM in the letter that Parakh had been making "uncharitable remarks" about him. "This amounts to questioning the wisdom of the prime minister in my appointment as the minister of coal," Soren said in the letter. However, the book shows that the PM refused to buy Soren’s critique of Parakh.

This becomes clear through another communiqué, issued by Chaturvedi on behalf of the PM on August 13, 2005. Chaturvedi said Soren’s complaint and allegations lodged by another MP, CS Dubey, had been examined in detail. "None of the allegations against Parakh were found to be proved and the Prime Minister has approved that the matter be closed. I have talked to Parakh to reassure him of our full support in his efforts to meet the challenges of the coal sector including determination to fight the coal mafia. I have also assured him that the government has full faith in his stewardship as the secretary (coal)," says the communiqué, which came after Parakh had sent a letter to Chaturvedi on August 8, 2005, asking for voluntary retirement following alleged misbehaviour with him by another MP in a meeting.