NEW DELHI: A new book accuses Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of being weak and un able to stamp out

corruption on his watch, the second recent attack by an inside r that undermines the Congress party as it seeks re-election despite trailing in opinion polls. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has cast the world's largest ever election as a battle between its dynamic and assertive leader Narendra Modi and the relativel y ineffective incumbent premier Manmohan Singh. That impression was underlined in a book, published on Monday, called "Crusader or Conspirator? Coalgate and Other Truths" by PC Parakh, who retired as coal sec retary in 2005. It said Singh's inability to take on vested interests led to the so-called "Coal gate" scandal, which rocked his premiership.