Today is the birthday of former Congress President Sonia Gandhi. She turned 78 on December 09 and is now a member of the Rajya Sabha. Under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi, the UPA had a chance to form the government twice but she refused to become the Prime Minister. Sonia Gandhi was born on 9 December 1946 in a small village called Luciana in the Veneto region of Italy. Her father Stefano Miano named her Antonia Advise Albina Miano. No one thought that this girl would later become a big face of Indian politics and become the president of India’s oldest party (Congress).
When Sonia saw Rajiv for the first time
Sonia arrived at Cambridge on 07 January 1965. Many foreign youths come here to study. They found a Greek restaurant on the same campus that also served Italian food, called Varsity. He was very popular among the university youth. Sonia started eating here regularly. Even Rajiv Gandhi used to visit here frequently with his friends. It was here that Sonia saw Rajeev. He was quiet, handsome and very humble. One day while Sonia was having lunch there, Rajiv came along with their common friend Christian von Stiglitz. Then they introduced each other.
This is how the political innings started
After marrying Sonia in 1968, Rajiv brought her to India. Rajiv stayed away from politics and chose his career as an airline pilot. Rajiv Gandhi entered politics in 1980 after the death of Sanjay Gandhi. After the assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1984, Rajiv became the Prime Minister. During this period, Sonia Gandhi kept a distance from politics and worked in the field of art conservation, but after the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in 1991, Sonia Gandhi received an offer to take over the leadership of the Congress, which she initially turned down.
In 1998, Sonia Gandhi took charge of the Congress Party. Under his leadership, the Congress won the Lok Sabha elections in 2004 and formed the UPA alliance. However, instead of accepting the post of Prime Minister, he handed over this responsibility to Manmohan Singh. In 2004, the path was clear for Sonia’s enthronement to the country’s most important chair. In 2009, he got a similar opportunity once again. He rejected it on both occasions and was replaced by Dr. Nominated Manmohan Singh. This decision of Sonia shocked everyone. Dr. Manmohan Singh remained Prime Minister for ten years but the message that the reins of power were in the hands of the Gandhi family made his position miserable.
Why did Sonia refuse to become Prime Minister?
While discussing Sonia’s political journey, it is natural to ask why she rejected the post of Prime Minister? She was heading the oldest party in the country. The post of Prime Minister is a dream for any big leader active in electoral politics, but why was Sonia not ready to take this responsibility?
17 May 2004, that tense 20 minute story
Former Foreign Minister Natwar Singh, her confidante at the time and an eyewitness to this momentous sequence of events, has also confirmed what she wrote in her autobiography, Vishwanath Pratap Singh and Somnath Chatterjee, who were supporting Sonia at the time. Natwar Singh mentioned this incident in his autobiography One Life is Not Enough and wrote that on 17 May 2004 he reached 10 Janpath at around 2 am. He was close to his family. They were sent in. Sitting on the sofa in the room, Sonia was looking restless. Manmohan Singh and Priyanka were also present there. Suman Dubey also reached there and then Rahul came there. Turning to Sonia, Rahul said, “You don’t need to be the Prime Minister. My father was murdered. Grandmother was murdered. Will kill you too in six months.
Rahul threatened to go to any extent
According to Natwar, Rahul threatened to go to any extent if she did not agree to his demands and gave the mother 24 hours to make up her mind. A distraught Sonia had tears in her eyes when Rahul said that he would take all possible steps to stop her from accepting the Prime Minister’s post. This tense 15-20 minutes was a very difficult time. Manmohan Singh was completely silent. Priyanka said that Rahul is against and he can do anything.
Priyanka-Rahul got scared
Rahul’s stubbornness forced Sonia to reject the post of Prime Minister. Neerja Chaudhary wrote in his book How Prime Ministers Decide that a few days after this incident, apart from Natwar Singh, Vishwanath Pratap Singh, who was active in Sonia’s party at that time, also told him that Sonia’s children did not want him. Accept the post of Prime Minister, because he fears that his life will be in danger.
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