Bofors case split Sonia Gandhi and PV Narasimha Rao, says Congress veteran

New Delhi: Congress veteran Margaret Alva, a former Union minister and Governor, has revealed that Congress president Sonia Gandhi fell out with then Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao over an investigation into the Bofors probe.

In her autobiography Courage & Commitment, Ms Alva, for long an insider, revealed a deep lack of trust between and Mrs Gandhi and Rao. Recalling her conversations when the Delhi High Court took up the Bofors case, Ms Alva quoted Mrs Gandhi asking her “What does the Prime Minister want to do? Send me to jail?” She recalled that she had protested with Mrs Gandhi, saying she had misunderstood.

“What has the Congress government done for me? This House (10 Janpath) was allotted to me by the Chandrashekhar government. I am not seeking any favours for myself and my children from him (Rao),” Mrs Gandhi was quoted having snapped at Mrs Alva in the book. Incidentally, Ms Alva was a minister in the Rao Cabinet and the CBI came under her jurisdiction.

Congress insider spills the beans
Veteran Congress leader Margaret Alva is at it again. Almost ten years after she first raised the issue of tickets being sold in the run-up to Assembly elections in Karnataka, Ms Alva now has come out with a series of damning insider’s takes on several issues including functioning of the party.

In her tell-all autobiography, Courage and Commitment, the 74-year-old former governor has given details about issues like her quitting the party in 2008, the Emergency, Sonia’s strained ties with former prime minister P. V. Narsimha Rao, and Sanjay Gandhi, among others. Here is her take (paraphrased) as told to karan Thapar on India Today TV:
Party functioning
Ms Alva has said that the decision-making in the party is very centralised. “The decisions for critical appointments have always been very arbitrary. Sushil Kumar Shinde — was not asked — just informed, that he has been appointed as governor of Andhra Pradesh when he was sitting at my home having tea,” she says in the interview. Congress president didn’t take the decision but recommended it to the prime minister, she added.

Recalling further, she says, “I got a call from Sonia Gandhi informing that she has recommended my name for governorship. Before I could ask why or refuse, the line went dead. I did’t get an appointment with her after that.”

Tickets Episode
“In 2008, I raised the issue of tickets being sold. I was reprimanded by Sonia for speaking out before the Karnataka elections,” she said.

It may be recalled that the Congress had then denied the claims and forced her to quit. “I put down everything in my resignation letter to Sonia,” she said.

It may be recalled that Ms Alva had unsuccessfully sought a party ticket for her son in 2008 for the Karnataka elections. The letter, for the first time, is published in the autobiography. However, she later on patched up with Sonia Gandhi. She was also made governor of Rajasthan and Uttarakhand when UPA was in the power.

Sonia-PV ties
Now, it is more than clear that the Congress President and the former prime minister shared an uncomfortable relationship. Dwelling more on it, according to a media report, Ms Alva recalls, “She (Sonia) seemed unable to trust him (Rao), not least because of his proximity to (godman) Chandraswami, who was being investigated for his role in Rajivji’s assassination. The Prime Minister, on his part, had always been unnerved by her aloofness. But after the Babri Masjid episode, the undercurrent of coldness and suspicion increased…She was doubly upset with him (after the government's appeal in Bofors case),” says Alva. She says Sonia was extremely angry with Mr Rao. “What does the Prime Minister want to do? Send me to jail?,” Sonia had asked Ms Alva in 1992 when Rao’s government decided to appeal against the Delhi high court’s decision to quash a police complaint in the Bofors gun case

Alva also disapproved of the party leadership not showing respect to Rao in his death. “His body was even not let into the AICC compound. The gun carriage was parked on the pavement outside the gate.

“Whatever the differences were, he was the PM, he had been Congress president, he was Chief Minister, he was party general secretary. When a man is dead you do not treat him that way,” she said.

Throwing more light on the frosty relationship between Rao and Sonia, Alva said, “Rao would call me sometime on a Sunday evening and simply ask what does the lady want. Nothing I could say.

“But he wanted to know what the mood was at 10 Janpath. He was worried. He did not want to have any sort of clash or problem with her and when I spoke to Soniaji she always felt that Rao for some reason or the other was not prepared to deal with the way he should have. “But most important of all is that I paid the price as both suspected me.”

Indira backed Sanjay
Sanjay Gandhi is often blamed for carrying out atrocities during the Emergency. Commenting on that, Ms Alva says it was much later they realised that Sanjay’s actions had Indira's approval.

After visiting Turkman Gate in Delhi, where Sanjay Gandhi had ordered a demolition drive to promote beautification, Ms Alva went to apprise Indira of the plight of the residents. Indira gave her a cold response, “Some hard decisions have to be taken sometimes. Otherwise, nothing can change, right?”

The Michel link
She also spoke about relationship between C.P.N Singh, a minister in the Indira Gandhi government and Wolfgang Michel, father of middleman Christian Michel whose name had cropped up in the AgustaWestland chopper deal. Asked whether Wolfgang Michel had an association with then Minister of State for Defence Production C.P.N. Singh, Alva said so many facets were well documented. She said top army people had told her that tanks were being loaded in Bombay and marked for Canada but were unloaded in South Africa when India did not have good ties with it.

She even claimed a sealed letter was thrown inside her residence which was drafted at the minister’s chamber and sent to London for Michel's signature, saying “I had contacted him when I was in London” and tried to cut a deal. However, the records show she was not in London during that period, she said while noting that she had placed before the Parliament all these details which created a furore.

Fidel Castro had literally swept Ms Alva off her feet. When he asked her how much she weighed, and she refused to tell, he lifted her.