Natwar claims Sonia was not happy with Narasimha Rao for his reforms
Sonia Gandhi and Narasimha Rao. (Photo: PTI/File)
New Delhi: Former foreign minister Natwar Singh in his book One Life Is Not Enough, speaks of the cold relationship between Congress president Sonia Gandhi and the then PM P.V. Narasimha Rao.
In the book he says that though Mrs Gandhi made him the PM, she “wasn’t very fond of him.” He then wrote of how Rao sought his help to mend the fences and would lament, “I go out of my way to be polite to her. We do whatever she wishes. She (Sonia) never telephones me.”
Rao once told Mr Singh, “I can take on Sonia Gandhi. But I do not want to do so. Some of her advisers have been filling her ears against me.”
Seeking Mr Singh’s help, the then PM had said, “I have done my best to meet all her desires and requirements. You worked closely with her and must know and should know why Sonia is so hostile to me.”
Mr Singh observed in the book that an “impression was created by some members of the CWC that she was not happy with the reforms process and that Rao was ignoring her. All the senior members of the Congress were aware of Mrs Gandhi giving him the cold shoulder.”
He recalled that “a stage was reached when communication between 7, RCR, and 10, Janpath, almost ceased.” Rao had also told Mr Singh that how Mrs Gandhi had turned down his offer of installing a RAX phone at her residence so that she could speak directly to him. “It was like a slap on my face,” Rao had told Natwar Singh.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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