The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) on Saturday denied any hand of Congress President Sonia Gandhi's political secretary Ahmed Patel in the allotment of coal blocks.

The denial came on a cover story in Mumbai Mirror on Saturday that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had communicated to Sonia Gandhi that his office had cleared the coal blocks allotment on the recommendation of Ahmed Patel. It is "completely untrue" and this is "a scurrilous, irresponsible and mischievous report," the PMO said.

The PMO issued the denial saying, "it is hoped that other newspapers or media outlets do not reproduce or repeat the baseless story." The correspondent had tried to implicate Ahmed Patel as a proof to the charge by Lok Sabha Opposition leader Sushma Swaraj of the BJP that the Congress got "mota maal" (big money) for doling out the coal blocks free of cost.