On 18 May 2004 Congress President Sonia drove to Rashtrapati Bhawan to meet President Kalam to be invited by the President to be the Prime Minister!

Sonia did not become the Prime Minister!

WHY?

KALAM NEVER INVITED SONIA TO BE PM

The present is passionately subjective but history is dispassionately objective.
May 18, 2004, was a historic day.
It was the day when India awaited the elevation to power its first foreign-born Prime Minister-Elect. It was the day when Sonia told the Congress MPs that her inner voice would not let her be PM.
It was the day when President Kalam didn’t give Sonia the letter inviting her to be Prime Minister.

MYSTERY

The mystery why she was suddenly replaced by Manmohan Singh on that day, remains just that, a mystery. Truth will come to light only when either Sonia or Manmohan reveals what transpired on that day or when the President hands over the secret file detailing the government formation process to his successor or
Whenever President Kalam tells India the Truth!

DAUGHTER-IN-LAW IS THE DAUGHTER

It was also the day when some BJP functionaries attempted to generate a nationwide frenzy by denying Sonia’s crowning glory. In traditional Hindu households, the daughter-in-law becomes the daughter of the family. In traditional families, daughters-in-law become the daughters of the home she marries in.
Sonia is the daughter-in-law and thus the daughter of the Congress Family.

An Indian woman shaves her head and wears a white sari only when her husband dies, not when a daughter-in-law seeks an equal right. So it is impossible for India’s Women to pardon Sushma Swaraj and Uma Bharti for objecting to Sonia becoming the Prime Minister and for cruelly violating the Hindu tradition of respect and affection for the daughter-in-law.

The BJP thus behaved in a condemnable manner in trying to oppose Sonia from becoming the Prime Minister after 350 Lok Sabha MPs had elected her. She is after all the daughter-in-law.

SAINT SONIA

Sonia supporters say that Sonia sacrificed the Once In A Lifetime Opportunity to be the Prime Minister!
A Rare demonstration of Self-Denial in a world of cut-throat competition for the loaves of office.
The Sonia Congress and Allies loudly proclaim the Sonia move of not becoming the Prime Minister as admirable.
This “Not Becoming Prime Minister” invested in Sonia a strong political authority to control and dominate both the Congress Party and the UPA Coalition Government.

SATAN SONIA

Sonia Opponents say that Sonia was never invited by the President to be the Prime Minister!
If Sonia was not Invited then where was the scope for Refusal!
The President of India personally hands to the would-be-Prime Minister a written Letter Appointing the Prime Minister and then enquires the Time and Date preferred for the Swearing in Ceremony.
President Kalam never gave Sonia the Letter appointing her as Prime Minister!
The Sonia Sacrifice Concept is therefore absolute Nonsense and just a Fiction!

HISTORY: 18 MAY 2004

After Manmohan became Prime Minister, Sonia got the Government to give her Ministerial Power by appointing herself as Chairman of the UPA Parliamentary Party and getting the Status of a cabinet Minister for it.

Many readers have been asking why a person who has renounced the Prime Minister’s post would greedily seek back door ministerial power. It definitely defies logic.

The vital question is whether Sonia Gandhi renounced the post of the Prime Minister or the President of India Kalam refused to give her the Top job.

VAJPAYEE ADVICED SONIA: DON’T TRY TO BE PM

The voters were wise, they electrocuted the NDA and delivered a hung Parliament. An anti-BJP post-election coalition was the only solution and the United Progressive Alliance was born.

After the Lok Sabha Polls Verdict-2004 declared the NDA to be the loser and Sonia’s Congress Led UPA Post-Poll Alliance the winner, the Congress was naturally jubilant.

On May 13, naturally shocked at destiny’s doings and at the way the BJP had undone itself, Vajpayee was in no mood to talk to anyone.

At that time, according to highly placed sources, Vajpayee received a phone call from Sonia.
Sonia asked for his blessings and his advice.

Vajpayee gave Sonia his blessings and the advice that she should not try to become the Prime Minister.

Was this advice based on incriminating information that Vajpayee had received as Prime Minister?

There are things that only a Prime Minister knows, state secrets. He gets privileged information. Or was he apprehending that the country would be torn apart if a foreign born had taken up the reins of governance?

The Vajpayee advice was ignored by Sonia.

17 MAY 2004

On May 17 2004, the television channels electrified the polity by speculating that Sonia Gandhi might refuse the Prime Minister’s job.

Sonia mobilised all the Congress MPs to sit in the sun on the 10 Janpath lawns to visibly demonstrate that all the MPs were with her and that no Government could be formed without her. Sonia assembled all the Allies and asked the allies to decide categorically whether they had any objection to her becoming the Prime Minister, or else her MPs would elect another Congress leader for the Prime Minister’s post.

Since the Congress was the largest party in the coalition and in Parliament, and since party MPs overwhelmingly supported her, the allies had no option but to unanimously endorse her candidature for the PM’s post.

The overwhelming support that Sonia had of the Congress MPs, left the allies without any option but to support her. Thus the Allies were pressurised to accept Sonia as the Prime Minister.

Then Manmohan Singh announced that Sonia has received the President’s letter inviting her to a discussion and that she would meet President Kalam the next day, May 18.

ASTROLOGY

On the morning of May 18, Sonia consulted a Telugu astrologer from Medak, Andhra Pradesh, to select an auspicious time for her swearing-in. He advised that Amavasya was ending at 9 am on May 19, and thereafter it was okay. However, she should wait until Prathama, one day after Amavasya. He even advised her not to meet the President until Amavasya ended. He said she should meet the President after 9 am on May 19 and be sworn in as Prime Minister on May 20. The astrologer’s advice was partially taken. The swearing-in date was to be as advised by the astrologer, but she met the President on May 18, during Amavasya.

RASHTRAPATI BHAWAN ON 18 MAY 2004

Sonia accompanied by Manmohan Singh, waited for the President to anoint her PM-designate. But the President did not give her the letter.

The President-Prime Minister Elect meetings are generally over quickly with the President handing over a letter of invitation to the Prime Minister Elect to form the government, after some pleasantries.

Sources say that the President arrived but after the pleasantries, he did not give her any letter but spoke on three issues.

ONE: Apparently, the President was embarrassed that the media had given out May 19 to be the swearing-in date when he had not till then invited Sonia to be the Prime Minister to form the government.Obviously, it was the Congress party that had briefed the media on the date. The President requested avoiding such future embarrassments.

TWO: The President was given the letters of support. The President was not able to decipher from the letters the reasons for those not joining the government.

So the President apparently wanted the reasons for those not joining the Government, in writing by the Party Chiefs supporting Sonia but refusing to join her Government!

The President apparently wanted to know, in writing, from each ally, its reason for not joining the government. This was necessary to ensure a stable government. It was argued that since the majority accepted Sonia as PM, it was irrelevant as to why some weren’t joining the government. Outside support in government formation is the tradition whenever the verdict is hung. Sonia told the President that she would get back to him the next day. She returned home to consult her lawyers, family members and confidants.

THREE: The President supposedly gave Sonia a folder with six queries and said that legal advice had been sought from experts on constitutional law and they were still unsure about her taking up the Prime Minister’s job and that if she could help unraveling the queries.

SONIA RESPONSE TO PRESIDENT KALAM

According to sources, either of the two could have happened.

Scenario 1: Sonia said she would get back to the President the next day.
She returned home and consulted the noted jurist, her family and Jyoti Basu.

Scenario 2: Sonia was told by the President, that if she staked a claim to be Prime Minister, then there was no option but to seek constitutional advice from the Supreme Court and government formation would have to wait until that advice came.

The legal opinion was clear: the Constitution gives the President absolute power on government formation. He can swear in any citizen, even a non-MP. Thereafter, if it’s a fiasco then the President can be impeached. To resolve any dispute, the President can seek advice from the Supreme Court. Then government formation will have to wait a month or more.

Sonia told President Kalam that she would get back to him the next day. She reached home, and talked to her family, lawyer and Basu.

A month’s wait, until the Supreme Court gave its advice, would have inflamed nationwide passions with violent demonstrations for and against Sonia.
So while on technicalities she was eligible to be the Prime Minister, a political party leading the nation must consider people’s feelings of not wanting to be led by a foreign born.
So this led to India being told that Sonia has refused the Prime Minister’s post.

353 MPS WANTED SONIA TO BE PM

The 353 Lok Sabha MPs accepted Sonia as the Prime Minister and supported a Congress led UPA Coalition Government on May 18. They were in three categories:

FIRST CATEGORY: 196 MPs wanted Sonia as PM: 146 Congress MPs, 26 RJD MPs enthusiastically agreed to join the government, as did Ramadoss (6), Ajit (3), Athavle (1). JMM (5), TRS (5) and LJP (3), Muslim League (1).

SECOND CATEGORY: 91 MPs accepted Sonia as PM but refused to join any government with or without Sonia as PM: Communists (61), Mayawati (18), Deve Gowda (3), Vaiko’s MDMK (3), Bodo (1) and One MP each of the regional parties from Ladakh, Hyderabad, Sikkim, Nagaland and Mizoram.

THIRD CATEGORY: 66 MPs who accepted her as PM, but refused joining a Sonia-led government just because she was a foreign-born: Mulayam (40), Karunanidhi’s DMK (16), Sharad Pawar’s NCP (10),

These 66 MPs were a problem for her as they would in a written undertaking to the President state their reason for objection. It would have been embarrassing for the Congress to let India know that some of the allies don’t want Sonia as PM because of her Foreign Born Origin. Public opinion could have been inflamed. So even if Sonia was eligible, she would have to take into account people’s feelings. If a few Allies had given letters giving Sonia’s Foreign Born Issue as the reason for their not joining the Sonia led Government then it would have been impossible for the President to invite Sonia to be the Prime Minister.

The Sharad Pawar-Mulayam Coterie unnecessarily objected to Sonia becoming PM. If Sonia became PM, then dynastic succession would have ensured that Rahul too became PM which ambitious UPA leaders would not tolerate. Hence, their objection to joining a Government headed by Foreign Born Sonia! Foreign-born Issue was just an excuse to stop the Dynasty from future access to the Prime Ministerial Throne!

TAILPIECE

Since then there have been endless speculations. There is no point in the Rashtrapati Bhavan issuing denials for each story published by the media. The readers want to know the truth and journalists dig for information and come up with sources who provide that information.

But more importantly, suppose President Kalam had valid grounds for not inviting Sonia to form the government, has he recorded all that in a file to guide future Presidents? President Kalam should have either told Parliament or addressed the nation or filed the information.
As to what actually transpired in that chat with the Congress president on May 18.

Until then, columnists have every right to ferret out information from sources and offer their Analysis on
“Why Sonia was Not Made The Prime Minister by President Kalam on 18 May 2004”!

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