Mumbai Mirror reported that Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on August 31, the day he returned from the Non Aligned Summit in Tehran, met UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and communicated to her that his office had cleared the coal block allotment on the recommendation of her political secretary Mr Ahmed Patel.

As per report “Washing his hands of the tainted coal block allotment, Dr Singh made it clear to Sonia Gandhi that he had no role or interest in determining who the beneficiaries should be. As he laid the blame for coal allotment squarely at the Congress’ door, the PM explained that his then principal secretary TKA Nair had merely coordinated the allotment decision as desired by Ahmed Patel.”

Sources close to the development say this has been possibly his boldest political move in this term as Prime Minister and stemmed from his frustration at the drubbing he was getting in the media and the aspersions being cast on his integrity.

Mr Ahmed Patel is one of Sonia Gandhi’s closest aides he has been her political secretary since 2000 and she is known to rely on him greatly in the running of the Congress Party.

Source - mumbaimirror.com/

(www.coalguru.com)