Sonia on Pranab's PM ambition (PTI file photo)

NEW DELHI: Former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi has recounted how senior party colleague Pranab Mukherjee hinted at his "long-held desire" to become prime minister during a conversation in 2010, leaving her "shocked" with the suggestion that perhaps "it was time for a change at the top. " The account in her newly released memoir, however, has drawn a sharp response from Pranab Mukherjee's daughter Sharmistha, who questioned why her father's ambition could have come as a surprise. Responding to Sonia's memoir, "Belonging: A Journey of Love", Sharmishtha said there was nothing wrong with a politician aspiring to become prime minister, particularly someone with her father's experience in politics and governance. "What's there to get 'shocked' about? Is it a crime to be ambitious, especially when that 'ambition' was supported by decades of experience in politics & governance, hard work & a brilliant mind?" she said. Recalling a conversation with her father, Sharmistha said she had once asked him whether he wanted to become prime minister. He had candidly replied that "any politician worth his salt has this ambition". "My father came from a very humble background. Whatever he achieved in his life was through sheer merit & hard-work. There was no-one to serve him positions, including PM-ship, on a platter due to dynastic entitlements. If a well-deserving person harbours ambition to become Prime Minister, what's wrong in that, unless Sonia ji was 'shocked' by the fact that anyone outside Gandhi-Nehru family could even dare to nurture such an ambition & furthermore dared to 'hint' it to her?" she said. Sharmistha also responded to Sonia's claim that Pranab Mukherjee never made her feel he held her response against him after she changed the subject during their conversation. "In this same context, I read that she said she felt 'he never held it against me'. From what I read in his diaries & whatever conversation he had with me, I would like to reassure her that he DID NOT hold it against her or anyone else. He was a pragmatic person with deep understanding. He understood her reasons & insecurities that all human beings are prone to," she said. Also read: Sonia Gandhi memoir: BJP's Phoolka questions Army timeline, Indira's tears on 1984 riots

Sonia on power-sharing with Manmohan Singh

In her memoir, Sonia writes that she was clear about Manmohan Singh being the prime minister and that, while she could offer him her opinions and suggestions as Congress president or disagree with him, it was her duty to defer to him. "Further. I was determined not to be under any circumstance the cause of a misunderstanding that could give our opponents occasion to rejoice and weaken our government," she says in the book, which hit the stands on Tuesday. Former Congress chief describes an "unspoken division of responsibility" between the prime minister and herself, which she says worked smoothly: "the government under Dr. Manmohan Singh, and the party under me". She also recounts how the Congress leadership coordinated with the government through a core group that met weekly with the prime minister. "A core group met weekly with the prime minister to ensure coordination between the two. Its other members were Pranab Mukherjee, who had been a minister in Indira Gandhi's cabinet in the 70s; the politically insightful Arjun Singh, a former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh; A K Anthony, a former chief minister of Kerala: and Ahmed Patel," she writes. "We also met regularly as members of the Strategy Group, set up to discuss issues to be taken up in Parliament. Sometimes Pranab ji, as I always called him, would stay back for a chat," she says.

What Sonia wrote about Pranab Mukherjee

Sonia recalls that Pranab Mukherjee had developed serious differences with then-finance minister P Chidambaram. During one such conversation in 2010, after expressing his frustration, Pranab made the suggestion that "surprised" her. "He (Pranab) had developed serious differences with the finance minister P Chidambaram, and on one occasion, in 2010, I think after expressing his frustration, he shocked me with the suggestion that perhaps it was time for a change at the top, which I understood as a hint of his long-held desire to become prime minister," Rajya Sabha member Sonia Gandhi says. "I gently changed the subject, and though he may have been disappointed, he never made me feel he held it against me," she adds. Sonia points out that the Congress later nominated Pranab Mukherjee as the UPA's presidential candidate in 2012. He went on to win the election and become the President of India. "I often called on him, mostly just to converse with the erudite and knowledgeable politician that he always remained."

Sonia rejects 'back-seat driver' charge

Addressing allegations that she wielded the real power during the UPA years, when Manmohan Singh served as prime minister from 2004 to 2014, Sonia refers to what she describes as a "rash of stories" in the media. She says some of these accounts were fed by people close to the prime minister. "A decade later, a book was published by one of his former aides, reaffirming the malicious and totally false allegations spread all along by my opponents: That I sent for files from the prime minister's office (PMO), interfered with administrative matters, and made key appointments," she says, rejecting the BJP's repeated charge. Sonia says the allegations that she interfered in the functioning of the government were particularly distressing, as she had always been careful to follow established rules. "Though I had been the subject of worse accusations over the years, the fabrication that distressed me most was that I was looking into official files something improper for anyone outside the government. I had always been particular about adhering to rules, all the more so during this period," she says.

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She adds that the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) had issued a statement categorically denying that official files had ever been shown to her. Sonia also cites an interview in which Manmohan Singh's daughter Upinder Singh criticised a book by one of his former aides, describing it as a betrayal of trust and defending the relationship between her father and the Congress leader. "Dr. Manmohan Singh's daughter Upinder Singh in an interview called the book 'nothing but a stab in the back. . . a huge betrayal of trust' and 'a mischievous, unethical exercise'. She affirmed that her father's relationship with me was one of 'mutual trust and respect'. However, the opposition and the media looked for every opportunity to spin the narrative that I was the government's 'back-seat driver'," Sonia says. She also gave details on why she turned down PM post after UPA victory in 2004.

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