Congress President Sonia Gandhi with her son and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi
Sonia Gandhi declined to become the Prime Minister in 2004 because of strong opposition from her son Rahul, who was afraid she would be killed like his father and grandmother if she accepted the post, former External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh claimed today in an interview to a private news channel.
Mr Singh, 83, an estranged Gandhi family friend who had to resign from the Congress-led coalition government in 2005 after allegations of corruption, claimed that it was not Sonia's "inner voice" that prevented her, as she had stated at the time, from taking up the PM's post.
To persuade him from not referring to this particular episode in his autobiography, he alleged that Mrs Gandhi along with her daughter Priyanka met him at his residence in May but he decided to disclose facts as they were and tell the "truth."
"Rahul was totally against his mother becoming Prime Minister. He said she would be killed like his father and grand mother and as a son, he would not allow her to become the PM. He was very adamant," Mr Singh said, recalling a May 18, 2004 meeting where Manmohan Singh, Gandhi family friend Suman Dubey, Priyanka and he were present. Manmohan Singh later went on to become the Prime Minister.
Rahul's opposition was conveyed to them by Priyanka, he said.
Reacting to Mr Singh's revelations, Ajay Maken, general secretary of the All India Congress Committee's communication department, said, "It is ridiculous. These days it has become fashionable to sensationalise the contents of a book with the sole aim of ensuring better sales and free publicity. This is yet another such exercise. Any comment on it will be a futile exercise".