New Delhi, May 17: Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh maintained today that party President Sonia Gandhi has not interfered in the functioning of the government even once and that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was the "power centre in governance."
Singh made this remark while seeking to clarify the "perception" of two power centres which came into focus after his recent comments that this model had not worked very well.
"There has to be one power centre and here the power centre is Dr Manmohan Singh in governance and for political matters it is of course Mrs Sonia Gandhi," the AICC General Secretary told NDTV.
"Both are working separately in their own domain, Dr Manmohan Singh takes all decisions in Government of India, and Mrs Sonia Gandhi takes all decisions in organisation," he added.
Seeking to explain the context of his earlier remarks that triggered a controversy, Singh said that because of the media hype and opposition allegations there is a general perception among bureaucracy and all forms of government that there are dual power centres.
"This is a perception created by media that there are dual power centres, perception created by the Opposition, frankly the Congress President has never interfered in the functioning of the government not once," he said.
Singh said the Congress President has suggested policies like RTI Act and NREGA programme which is as per the party's election manifesto and Common Minimum Programme (CMP).
"But, she has never interfered in the functioning of the government, so this perception is wrong," he added.
Singh had earlier said, "Personally, I feel that this model (of having two power centres) hasn't worked very well. Because, I personally feel that there should not be two power centres and I think whoever is the Prime Minister must have the authority to function although Sonia Gandhi has really never interfered in the functioning of the government."
Prime Minister Singh, when asked about the issue of two power centres coming into focus after Digvijay Singh raked it up, had curtly replied, "It is a useless debate. It is a creation of the media."
Congress spokesman Janardan Dwivedi while rejecting Singh's assessment had said, "The relationship which exists between Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today is unique and something which has never been seen before. This could be an ideal arrangement for the future."
Singh said there is no "rift" between the Prime Minister and the Congress for the last nine years since the UPA has been in power.
"On every issue that Dr Manmohan Singh desired, the party stood besides him. Whether it's nuclear bill(Indo-US civil nuclear deal) or FDI (in multi-brand retail), there were murmurs that the party is not supporting him but the party stood solidly behind him in all governance related issues."
Asked whether there were murmurs within the party that the prime minister has become a liability, the Congress leader said the perception in the length and breadth of the country is that Dr Manmohan Singh is an honest man who has been conducting himself with "absolute perfection" and he's a man whose opinion weighs heavily on global leaders.
To a query about his assessment that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has been a "media creation", Singh said he has been narrating the Gujarat story without facts.
"Gujarat had a double digit growth even before Modi became a chief minister. It was a developed state before Modi became a chief minister...So it's wrong to assume and give full credit to Mr Modi for the development of Gujarat."
The AICC General Secretary also stuck to his earlier remark that BJP leader Sushma Swaraj was like Atal Behari Vajpayee and was fit to be a Prime Minister.
"Well, why not. She's not like the other Sanghi leaders with blinkers on her eyes and blinkers on their minds like all sangh pracharaks.
"She comes from a different background, she's got a personality, she has got the political wisdom and I think she would be acceptable to other NDA allies also," he added.
Asked to respond to Swaraj's remark that he was trying to create trouble with his assessment, Singh said, "I'm sorry for that if she feels that, I'm being honest about that."
On the moves by the Government to grant autonomy to the CBI after critical observations by the Supreme Court, Singh warned that if autonomy meant it was accountable to none it becomes a "monster."
Singh felt that all the political parties should come together to evolve a strong Lokpal bill so that the cases of corruption could be looked into besides ensuring that CBI doesn't become a monster accountable to none.
The Congress leader also spoke about his objections to the observations by the Supreme Court that the CBI is like a "caged parrot" with many masters.
"This is my objection with Hon'ble Supreme Court that off the cuff remarks cannot be appealed against but they get etched on people's minds, of that CBI has become a caged parrot."
