Politics · India Bureau
Sonia Gandhi recalls Pranab Mukherjee's PM ambitions in memoir
The former Congress president writes that a 2010 conversation with the veteran politician left her shocked by his desire to become Prime Minister. Mukherjee's daughter has since questioned the basis for Gandhi's surprise.
LSN India ·
Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi has disclosed in her upcoming memoir that a conversation with senior politician Pranab Mukherjee in 2010 revealed his aspirations to become Prime Minister, an admission that reportedly caught her off guard.
In the memoir, Gandhi recounts the exchange with Mukherjee, who went on to serve as India's 13th President from 2012 to 2017. The revelation has reignited discussion around political ambitions within the Congress party during that period.
Responding to Gandhi's account, Sharmistha Mukherjee, the former President's daughter, questioned why there should be any shock at her father's political aspirations. She contended that harboring ambitions for high office is neither unusual nor objectionable in democratic politics.
The exchange underscores the complex dynamics within the Congress leadership during the early 2010s, when questions about succession and power-sharing within the party were at the forefront of internal discussions. Mukherjee, a long-serving Congress stalwart before his presidential appointment, had been seen as a potential contender for the top executive position.