New Delhi, November 7: Sonia Gandhi has spoken about why she declined the opportunity to become Prime Minister after the Congress-led alliance won the 2004 Lok Sabha elections. In an interview with British newspaper The Guardian, she said she had always been clear that she would never take the top post.
Gandhi said becoming Prime Minister was not in keeping with her nature or personal preference. She also said her entry into politics was not driven by personal ambition but by a sense of responsibility towards her party and family.
After the 2004 election, the Congress emerged as the single largest party and the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) got the opportunity to form the government. Sonia Gandhi was widely seen as the natural contender for the Prime Minister’s post. However, she declined the position and proposed Dr Manmohan Singh, who subsequently became Prime Minister.
The report also recalls Priyanka Gandhi’s remarks in a 2008 interview. Asked whether she and Rahul Gandhi wanted their mother to become Prime Minister, Priyanka had said that neither of them wanted her to take the position. She said Sonia Gandhi’s decision had been clear well before the election.
In 2014, former External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh had separately claimed that Rahul Gandhi did not want his mother to become Prime Minister because he feared for her safety, drawing a comparison with the assassinations of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. Congress leader Ajay Maken had rejected Natwar Singh’s claim at the time.
During the recent interview, Sonia Gandhi also recalled the fear and security concerns her family faced after Indira Gandhi’s assassination. She said Rahul and Priyanka’s normal lives had been severely restricted, including their schooling, because of security concerns. Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated during an election campaign in 1991.
The interview comes ahead of the release of Sonia Gandhi’s memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love, scheduled for November 10, 2026. The book is expected to cover her personal life, her relationship with Rajiv Gandhi and key periods in Indian politics.
