Just a week after expressing his disappointment over Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's leadership in containing corruption in the country, Anna Hazare made a U-turn on Friday and certified him as an 'honest man'.
Hazare, however, indirectly attacked Congress President Sonia Gandhi, without taking her name, said media reports.
"Manmohan Singh is an honest person and there is no direct proof of his involvement in corruption. However, there is a certain remote control which dictates decisions to him and so there is an air of suspicion around him," he said as reported by PTI.
In the wake of the coalgate scam, Hazare said that he had lost faith in the Prime Minister as the UPA government at the Centre is not putting in required efforts to fight the corruption.
Earlier, key members from Team Anna including Arvind Kejriwal, Supreme Court lawyer Shanti Bhushan accused the Prime Minister over his alleged involvement in the irregularities in allocation of coal blocks to the private firms between 2006 and 2009.
Hazare, however, wasn't carried away by the allegations made by his own key aides' against the Prime Minister and said that he has faith in Singh. Later, the 74-year-old anti-corruption crusader changed his stance and expressed his disbelief over the PM's leadership.
Few Team Anna members claimed that although the Prime Minister was a clean man he allowed his cabinet ministers to indulge in corruption. The anti-corruption crusaders said the Singh's personal honesty was not enough and suggested him to be politically honest as well.
The Prime Minister, who has maintained a clean track record as a political leader over the years, came under fire after a CAG report pointed out a sacm in the allocation of coal blocks, when the PM was responisble for the coal ministry between 2006 and 2009.
According to the CAG report, about 155 coal blocks were allocated to as many as 100 private and state-run companies without auction that had caused the exchequer a loss of whopping Rs 10,600 billion (Rs 10.6 lakh crore), which is being termed as the 'mother of all scams', by media.
Team Anna had demanded a CBI probe against 15 ministers, including the Prime Minister based on the CAG report. Meanwhile, the federal agency has already begun the investigation process in the scam.
