New Delhi
The Presidential Years, the book written by former President of India Pranab Mukherjee blames the then Congress party president Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for party’s defeat in 2014 Lok Sabha election held in 2014.
In his memoirs which is to hit the book stores at the end of December, he also writes, “some members of the Congress believed had I become the Prime Minister in 2004, the party might have averted the 2014 Lok Sabha tragedy. Though I don’t subscribe to this view, I do believe that the party’s leadership lost political focus after my elevation as president. While Sonia Gandhi was unable to handle the affairs of the party, Dr (Manmohan) Singh’s prolonged absence from the House put an end to any personal contact with other MPs,” Mr Mukherjee writes, according to excerpts from “The Presidential Years” released by publishers Rupa.
Mukherjee who died in the month of August this year also compares the two Prime Ministers he worked with – Manmohan Singh and his successor Narendra Modi.
“I believe that the moral authority to govern vests with the PM. The overall state of the nation is reflective of the functioning of the PM and his administration. While Dr Singh was preoccupied with saving the coalition, which took a toll on governance, Modi seemed to have employed a rather autocratic style of governance during his first term, as seen by the bitter relationship among the government, the legislature and the judiciary. Only time will tell if there is a better understanding on such matters in the second term of this government,” he writes.