'PM not week-kneed; alert to corruption'

Dismissing the Opposition charge that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was "weak", Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has asserted he was "very much alert and proactive" to all issues including corruption.

PM and his advisers totally misread the situation 

"The Prime Minister is very much alert and proactive. He is taking appropriate action," Mukherjee told media persons in Chennai after releasing the Congress manifesto for the April 13 Tamil Nadu Assembly polls.

Responding to queries on AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa's charge that Dr Singh was a "week-kneed" prime minister, which also is a constant refrain of the opposition, he said, "It is not correct."

On the Lokpal issue and the four-day fast-unto-death by noted social activist Anna Hazare, Mukherjee said the bill had been in existence since 1970 but political parties had not agreed on its content.

"Even during the NDA regime, a Standing Committee under my chairmanship had made some recommendations which could not be implemented," Mukherjee, who is heading the joint committee to draft a stronger Lokpal Bill announced by the government on Saturday, said.

He said civil society members had made some recommendations on the Jan Lokpal seeking the PMO and judiciary to be brought under its purview.

Asked whether fast by Hazare and the outpouring national support was a reaction to the various alleged scams in the UPA regime, he said investigations were underway into them and "law will take its own course", be it the 2G spectrum allocation scam or the CWG.