Thane:
Notwithstanding his associates targeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on alleged irregularities in allocation of coal blocks, anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare on Thursday said he was "a good man who is going through bad times."
"I've said from the beginning, Manmohan Singh is a good man, I don't have any example of corruption yet. He is going through a bad time. He is a good man, but is controlled by remote. What can a person do?" said Mr Hazare.
The Prime Minister has been under fire from a group of activists close to Mr Hazare, popularly known as Team Anna, over the auction of coal blocks during the period he held the coal portfolio.
Last month, Arvind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan had written to the Prime Minister demanding for the setting up of a Special Investigation Team to probe cases of corruption against 15 ministers, including him, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and External Affairs Minister SM Krishna. The anti-graft group had picked up portions of a draft report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) to make charges against the Prime Minister when the Coal Ministry was with him.
The 74-year old Gandhian had on June 1 said that he "does not have faith" in the Prime Minister and demanded an independent probe into coal block allocations made by Dr Singh as minister in charge of coal.