Sonia wanted to be PM in 2004: Govindacharya

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Kalam should have gone in details all about the Prime Minister selection in 2004, but he skipped it there by creating confusion among the people about Sonia Gandhi,” said patron and Bharat Vikas Sangam (BVS) national advisor KN Govindacharya to the newsmen at an organisational meeting of the BVS here on Sunday.

Govindacharya said this against the backdrop of the former President’s new book — Turning Points — which revisits the eight-year-old controversy on his reluctance to appoint Italy-born Sonia Gandhi as the Prime Minister in 2004. The book has triggered a war of words between the Congress and the BJP on Saturday.

He said Kalam is not a politician and so skipped the inconvenient issue which ought to have been mentioned in the book if he wanted to.

“Kalam’s certificate that Sonia did not want to be the Prime Minister is misleading. It does not have any credence at all. If one takes a close look at the situations between 1999 and May 17, 2004, one finds Sonia very much wanted to be the Prime Minister of India. She was also very eager to take oath for the post, but situation prevented it,” Govindacharya said.

“If she didn’t have an inclination to become the Prime Minister in 2004, she should have become the leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha. But she on May 16, 2004 became the UPA leader. However, the situation after May 16 compelled her to drop her plan,” Govindacharya revealed.

Kalam should have mentioned what was the situation but he preferred to skip it. Hence his book leads to confusion in the mind of the people and helps image build-up of Sonia, he added.