Not above law, ready to be questioned by CBI: Manmohan Singh

In an affable mood after ending a twonation tour to Russia and China he also exuded confidence that Congress would quotsurprisequot everyone and win the 2014 general elections and felt the BJP despite its aggressive election campaign would quotpeak earlyquot and his quotslow and steadyquot party would win the race Manmohan Singh also hit out at Pakistan for the repeated ceasefire violations saying he was quotdisappointedquot as they were taking place despite an agreement to maintain peace at the border during his meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in New York last month The prime minister who held the coal portfolio during the first United Progressive Alliance UPA government in 2006 said he was quotnot above the law of the landquot Prime Minister Manmohan Singh File pic quotIf there is anything that the CBI Central Bureau of Investigation or for that matter anybody wants to ask I have nothing to hidequot The Bharatiya Janata Party BJP has been targeting the prime minister demanding that he be called for questioning by the CBI probing the coal blocks allocations The issue came into sharp focus after the CBI filed an FIR against industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla his company Hindalco and former coal secretary PC Parakh over two coal blocks in Odisha39s Talabira allocated in 2005 Parakh pointed an accusing finger at the prime minister saying if he was involved in the conspiracy Manmohan Singh was equally responsible The PMO promptly defended the allocations saying they were done on merit To a question on whether the scams and alleged wrongdoings like the coal allocation issue would quotcast a shadow on his prime ministershipquot Manmohan Singh said quotThat is for history to judgequot quotI am doing my duty and will continue to do my duty What impact my 10 years of prime ministership will have is for historians to judgequot he told reporters The prime minister answering questions on a range of subjects while on way back from his tour said the allegations of scams against the UPA government relate only to its first term and not to UPAII In the 2009 general election the Congress won quothands downquot he said adding quotI am sure when the results of 2014 come out the country will once again be surprisedquot The prime minister also said that though the BJP may be perceived to be running ahead of the Congress with an aggressive election campaign but the quotslow and steadyquot would win the race quotI don39t share the view that the Congress party is not active enough I think the Congress party is quite active I think the BJP may have started early but I think it will also peak early And slow and steady wins the race I think is the thing which sometimes also works in public life as wellquot Asked what he thought about Rahul Gandhi saying he could be killed too like his grandmother Indira Gandhi and his father Rajiv Gandhi both prime ministers the prime minister said in a reference to the BJP quotWell I and all sane persons should be worried about the politics of hate which is now sweeping the countryquot quotAs regards the threat to the life of Rahul Gandhi the government will take all possible precautions that this threat does not materialisequot he said Asked whether he thought the Supreme Court with its many judgments was becoming quotover activequot and whether he thinks it to be a reason for the government39s policy paralysis the prime minister declined to comment On the spike in ceasefire violations on the Line of Control he said after his meeting with Nawaz Sharif quotthere was agreement on both sides that peace and tranquillity must be maintained on the Line of Control and the International Border And this has not happened it has come to me as a big disappointmentquot quotI sincerely hope that at this late hour Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will recognise that this is a development which is not good for either of the two countriesquot