New Delhi, November 10, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi has recalled the emotional turmoil surrounding her decision to decline the Prime Minister’s post after the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) won the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, revealing that both her children, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, had opposed her taking the top job.
In an excerpt from her upcoming memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love, Sonia Gandhi has described the family discussions, pressure from alliance leaders and the internal conflict that preceded her decision to nominate Dr Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister.
The excerpt, shared with The Indian Express by publisher HarperCollins India, reveals that the possibility of her becoming Prime Minister had been discussed within the family months before the elections.
Sonia Gandhi wrote that when one of her children directly asked whether she would accept the post if the Congress won, she had emphatically replied, “Absolutely not!”
She said Rahul and Priyanka were equally opposed to the idea because of the traumatic experiences they had endured following the assassination of their grandmother, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and the murder of their father, Rajiv Gandhi. They associated the Prime Minister’s office with heightened personal danger and saw protecting their mother as a responsibility.
During the election campaign, Sonia Gandhi said she avoided giving a definite answer whenever questions about her possible elevation were raised publicly. She also kept her personal views to herself to prevent a leadership tussle within the Congress.
She recalled that after the UPA’s victory, her position became increasingly difficult as alliance leaders repeatedly urged her to accept the Prime Minister’s post. At one point, feeling overwhelmed by their insistence, she responded, “Theek hai”.
However, the leaders interpreted her words as acceptance and began congratulating her before she could complete her response. Rahul and Priyanka were visibly distressed when they learnt that she appeared to have agreed to take up the position.
“My emotions were changing, moment to moment. One minute I was clear, the next, I was torn,” she wrote.
Sonia Gandhi said her eventual decision was shaped by concerns about the political consequences of her becoming Prime Minister, particularly the possibility that the BJP and its allies would turn her foreign origin into a major political issue.
She argued that such a controversy could divert attention from governance and development and deepen divisions in the country. She also reiterated that her entry into politics had been driven by her opposition to what she described as the BJP-RSS’s divisive political approach and her commitment to protecting India’s secular foundations.
Addressing Congress MPs, she said the Prime Minister’s post had never been her political ambition and that she had always intended to follow her inner voice if confronted with such a situation.
“Today, that voice tells me I must humbly decline this post,” she wrote.
She maintained that her priority was to defend secularism and work for the poor, ideals she associated with Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. While acknowledging the party’s unanimous support for her leadership, she appealed to MPs to respect her decision and assured them that she would continue working for the party and the country.
Sonia Gandhi subsequently sought the MPs’ approval to nominate her successor and announced Dr Manmohan Singh as the leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party.
According to her account, the announcement was greeted with loud applause, slogans and emotional reactions from party members. She also noticed Rahul and Priyanka standing up and applauding her decision.
Singh went on to lead the UPA government as Prime Minister, while Sonia Gandhi remained Congress president and a central figure in the ruling alliance.
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