The Insider's Story

VETERAN POLITICIAN, FORMER PRESIDENT AND DILIGENT DIARIST, PRANAB MUKHERJEE OPENS UP ON THE UPA’S REIGN—AND ITS FALL

- Raj Chengappa

THE DRUMBEATS OF HISTORY and destiny were never too far for Pranab Mukherjee as he marched relentlessly to the pinnacle of political achievement. Barring the post of the prime minister, which would elude him three times in his illustrious career, Mukherjee has held such important Union ministry portfolios as finance, defence and external affairs, with gravitas and total command. In Parliament, he was considered a walking encyclopaedia on the rules of business and managed the contradictions of the UPA-I and II governments with rare aplomb.

So vital was Mukherjee to the functioning of the UPA government that at one time he chaired 95 Group of Ministers (GoM) bodies to speed up governance. In 2007, he was tipped to be the President of India, but Sonia Gandhi turned down the proposal as he was too vital to the functioning of the ruling coalition (see interview: ‘You can’t erase a party with a history of 132 years’ ). Only in 2012 did Sonia reluctantly agree to push his nomination, confident that only he could muster the shortfall in electoral votes needed to win the presidency for a Congress nominee.

As the former president settled down to an interview with India today at his new residence in Lutyens’ Delhi, he recalled with a chuckle the farewell Sonia had hosted for him in 2012 when he had to resign from the Congress. Sonia began her address by telling him, “In all Congress Working Committee meetings, your voice was not only audible but your presence was most visible. And you dominated the whole thing. So, for matters of Congress, no doubt we will miss you.” Then she added mischievously that, “So far as I am concerned, I will be missing some of the tantrums you used to throw at me. Especially the part where you tell me: ‘Madam President, you do not know’.”