New Delhi, Nov 10 Former President Pranab Mukherjee’s daughter, Sharmistha Mukherjee, on Tuesday questioned why Congress leader Sonia Gandhi was “shocked” by her father’s ambition to become Prime Minister, stressing that he had earned his position through decades of hard work and not by “dynastic entitlements”.
Reacting to Gandhi’s remarks in her memoir, Sharmistha said that perhaps Sonia Gandhi was “shocked” as she thought that anyone outside Gandhi-Nehru family could not even dare to nurture such an ambition.
Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee hinted at his “long-held desire” to become prime minister during a 2010 conversation with then party chief Sonia Gandhi, according to her memoir.
“He (Pranab) had developed serious differences with the Finance Minister P Chidambaram, and on one occasion, in 2010, I think after expressing his frustration, he shocked me with the suggestion that perhaps it was time for a change at the top, which I understood as a hint of his long-held desire to become prime minister,” Gandhi said in her book.
“I gently changed the subject, and though he may have been disappointed, he never made me feel he held it against me,” she adds.
Gandhi went on to point out that the Congress nominated Mukherjee in 2012 as the UPA candidate for president, the highest office in the republic, and he was elected.
“What’s there to get ‘shocked’ about?” Sharmistha retorted in a post on X to Gandhi’s remarks in her memoir “Belonging: A Journey of Love”.
Hitting back, Sharmistha said her father came from a humble background and had earned his position through decades of hard work and experience in politics.
Sharmistha also recalled Pranab Mukherjee telling her that “any politician worth his salt has this ambition”.
“Is it a crime to be ambitious, especially when that ‘ambition’ was supported by decades of experience in politics and governance, hard work and a brilliant mind? Once, when asked by me whether he wanted to become PM, he very candidly answered that ‘any politician worth his salt has this ambition’.
“My father came from a very humble background. Whatever he achieved in his life was through sheer merit and hard work. There was no one to serve him positions, including PM-ship, on a platter due to dynastic entitlements.
“If a well-deserving person harbours ambition to become Prime Minister, what’s wrong in that, unless Sonia ji was ‘shocked’ by the fact that anyone outside Gandhi-Nehru family could even dare to nurture such an ambition and furthermore dared to ‘hint’ it to her?,” Sharmistha said in a statement with her post.
“In this same context, I read that she said she felt ‘he never held it against me’. From what I read in his diaries and whatever conversation he had with me, I would like to reassure her that he DID NOT hold it against her or anyone else.
“He was a pragmatic person with deep understanding. He understood her reasons and insecurities that all human beings are prone to,” said Sharmistha in the statement posted on X.
(PTI News)
