Baru fabricated issues: PMO

"Baru has taken advantage of his former position. He has fabricated a lot of issues in his book. In a press meeting last October, the PM himself had warned that Baru should not be believed," Communications Adviser to the PMO, Pankaj Pachauri, was quoted as saying in media.

In his book 'The Accidental Prime Minister', Baru has written that Singh was "defanged" by the Congress in his second term with Sonia, deciding over key appointments to the Cabinet and to the PMO.

Baru also wrote that Singh seemed to "surrender" to her and to the allies.

"Bit by bit, in the space of a few weeks he was defanged. He thought he could induct the ministers he wanted into his team. Sonia nipped that hope in the bud by offering the finance portfolio to Pranab (Mukherjee), without even consulting him," Baru has written in the book.

Baru has also quoted the PM in page number 301 of the book, published by Penguin, as telling him: "That creates confusion. I have to accept that the party president is the centre of power. The government is answerable to the party."

In 2004, Sanjaya Baru left a  career as chief editor of the Financial Express to join Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as his media adviser in United Progressive Alliance (UPA).