Ex-Prez wasn’t against Sonia as PM: Manmohan

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 29

In the first interview he has given since he demitted office as the PM, Dr Manmohan Singh has said it’s “a complete canard” that APJ Adbul Kalam, as the President, was reluctant to appoint Sonia Gandhi as the PM. Manmohan said this is “totally untrue and I cannot understand how this story has spread.”

In the interview to a TV channel, Manmohan confirmed that Kalam extended him great support during the run-up to the Indo-US nuclear deal. He specifically added that Kalam had spoken to Mulayam Singh and Amar Singh to persuade them to support the deal, rather than vote against it. As Manmohan put it, he advised Mulayam to meet Kalam and that Kalam “totally endorsed” the deal.

Manmohan also spoke about the dissolution of the Bihar Assembly in 2005, which was subsequently struck down by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional. Manmohan explained how he rang up Kalam, who was in Russia at the time, the initial doubts that Kalam had and how in a substantive and lengthy conversation Manmohan had addressed them.

Manmohan was also questioned about Kalam’s revelations in his book “Turning Points” that after the Supreme Court struck down the dissolution, Kalam’s conscience told him he must resign, but Manmohan persuaded him not to do so.

Manmohan was also questioned about the fact that in August 2002, just days or weeks after he took over as the President, Kalam insisted on visiting Gujarat although Vajpayee was reluctant that he should do so. In response, Manmohan spoke of the great focus and attention Kalam would pay to communal issues and revealed that these were frequently discussed between him as the PM and Kalam as the President.

Manmohan also was questioned about the office of profit Bill that Kalam, as the President, returned to Parliament for reconsideration because he wanted a more systematic approach to decide what was and what was not an office of profit.

Manmohan spoke of the “great trust and friendship” between him and Kalam and called Kalam “his friend, philosopher and guide”. He said they had wide-ranging and often probing conversations, but Kalam meticulously ensured that, as the President, he never crossed any red lines. Manmohan called Kalam one of India’s greatest presidents.