'Manmohan Singh was personally not corrupt, but he couldn't...': Annamalai explains the difference between ex-PM and Modi

BJP's Tamil Nadu President K Annamalai on Sunday said that former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was personally not corrupt, but he could not control anybody in his Cabinet. "What is the difference between Manmohan Singh and Modi? Manmohan Singh ji, as a person, is not corrupt. Modi ji, as a person, not corrupt. Modi ji made other 76 ministers also not corrupt. But Manmohan Singh ji could not control anybody (in his Cabinet)," Annamalai said in a podcast - Top Angle - aired on Sunday. "You being non-corrupt is not a great thing. In this country, so many people are not corrupt. But you got to keep the system non-corrupt."

Annamalai then referred to the 2G scam, suggesting it happened because the then-prime minister could not prevail over his Telecom Minister A Raja, who was from the DMK.  

"What was the basic reason for the 2G scam? Raja ji writes to Manmohan Singh - 'Dear Prime Minister, I spoke to my leader. I believe in first come, first serve auction'. Manmohan ji writes to Raja ji - 'No, I don't believe in this first come, first serve auction. Please don't do it'. A Cabinet minister overrules the Prime Minister and does a first come, first serve auction."

The BJP's firebrand leader said that like 2G, there were hundreds of examples in the Manmohan Singh government, "where he could not control anybody". "Because it was a coalition government," Annamalai said, adding that the same problem is with the INDIA bloc. "Nobody can control anybody. They are like - I have 30 MPs, you have 20 MPs - who are you to tell me?"

"So the greatness of Modi ji is that he made system non-corrupt," Annamalai, who served as a police officer in Karnataka, said while speaking on his career as a police officer and how he tried to stop corruption in the police department. He said once a senior citizen, who wanted some land work done, offered him Rs 500, which he turned down and tried to know from the person why he offered the money. 

Annamalai said that the person told him that cops take money in police stations citing all kinds of expenses like for fuel, and other things. The former IPS officer said that after a year into the service, he learned that his being strict was a lottery for inspectors as they used that to take money from people. The BJP leader said that he had to take actions - including suspension, and forced retirement - to send out a message and keep the system corruption-free.      

Annamalai was a 2011-batch Karnataka cadre IPS officer. He quit the service in 2019 and joined the BJP in August 2020. He was last posted as Deputy Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru South. Almost a year later, he was named BJP's Tamil Nadu chief. He spearheaded BJP's campaign in the Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu.