Timing of Sanjaya Baru's book significant: Prithviraj Chavan

MUMBAI: Refraining from ascribing political motive to the memoirs of Sanjaya Baru, former media adviser to the Prime Minister, which claim that Dr Manmohan Singh was "defanged" by the Congress in his second term, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan today however said timing of the publication was significant.

"Baru has written it obviously to record his memoirs as he saw it in his position. But the timing is very critical," said Chavan, who handled the PMO before taking over as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, in an interview to PTI here. "I will not accuse him (Baru) of having a political motive, but commercial motive, certainly," Chavan said. "I have not seen the book yet. I have seen some extracts and some newspaper reporting on that. It will not be fair for me to comment. I haven't read the book, but the timing is obviously decided by commercial considerations," he said.

Asked if it was fair for someone who served in a senior position in the PMO to write a potentially controversial book, Chavan said, "I think it (writing the book) should not be discouraged. But it should not impact the current politics and discourse. "It should be in the nature of history for posterity but if it is brought in to impact the current political discourse, then one could question," Chavan said. "But as I said, I have not seen the book so I won't be able to comment on it fully," the Chief Minister said.