The Washington Post denies apology reports over PM article

The Washington Post today today said it had not offered any apology for an article written by its India bureau chief which called Manmohan Singh a 'silent' prime minister who had become 'a tragic figure'.

TV channels claimed that the Prime Minister's Office had sought an apology from the paper adding that the demand had been accepted. The Washington Post, however, vehemently denied it.

After he was dubbed an "underachiever" by Time magazine, The Washington Post article criticised him as a 'silent' prime minister who had become 'a tragic figure'.

"... the image of the scrupulously honorable, humble and intellectual technocrat has slowly given way to a completely different one: a dithering, ineffectual bureaucrat presiding over a deeply corrupt government," the article said.

The article said that under Singh, "economic reforms have stalled, growth has slowed sharply and the rupee has collapsed. But just as damaging to his reputation is the accusation that he looked the other way and remained silent as his cabinet colleagues filled their own pockets".

The UPA 2 government has come under tremendous pressure over the controversy surrounding the CAG report on coal blocks allocation which stated that they caused a loss of Rs1.86 lakh crore to the exchequer.