After being rejected by the electorate, a beleaguered Congress Party is bracing itself for a fresh onslaught with several senior leaders busy writing their memoirs. Already at the receiving end from its cadres, the Congress party’s First Family could find itself in the firing line again as there is a growing buzz that the authors plan to spill the beans on the behind-the-scenes machinations in the party.
Expelled Congress leader and former External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh was first off the block last year with his autobiography One Life is not Enough in which he was particularly critical of party president Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Veteran Congress leader Mohsina Kidwai is in the process of putting together her memoirs, while former Union minister and governor Margaret Alva’s autobiography is due to come out soon. Indira Gandhi’s all-powerful secretary RK Dhawan, who had a ringside view of the inner functioning of the party and the government, is also planning to write a “tell-all” account of his days in the Prime Minister’s Office.
Former Union minister Salman Khurshid is writing a book that promises to provide an insight into the working of the second United Progressive Alliance government, which was marked by unsavoury scams and corruption scandals, a virtually defunct Prime Minister’s Office and squabbling Cabinet ministers.
Even if Khurshid chooses to provide a sanitised version of those five eventful years, the book may still end up embarrassing the party, which is battling for survival.
Fortunately for the First Family, it was spared the blushes as President Pranab Mukherjee’s The Dramatic Decade: The Indira Gandhi Years steered clear of all controversy.
Unable to rein in leaders
Reports about these books have once again focused attention on the ongoing generational war in the Congress. As the party prepares for a younger team under Rahul Gandhi, a large number of old-timers, who are in their mid-seventies, will find themselves out of the electoral race by the time the next elections are held. Since the party is no longer in power, it cannot accommodate these leaders as governors or chairmen of official boards and commissions. With little possibility of a position in the party, it will be difficult be rein in these footloose leaders who will have no qualms about speaking out.
Former Union minister Hans Raj Bhardwaj’s diatribe against the party leadership is a case in point. Once a self-proclaimed Gandhi family loyalist, he has not minced words in criticising Sonia Gandhi, calling her a “bechari” and charging that she was in the “grip of sycophants and corrupt people”. Luckily for the Congress, there is no news yet about Bharadwaj writing a book but then it is early days yet.
Natwar Singh’s book, in which he described the Congress president as “deliberately capricious, authoritarian, obsessively secretive and suspicious”, set the ball rolling. Calling her a “prima donna”, Natwar Singh went on to maintain that Sonia Gandhi’s residence “10 Janpath was the real seat of power and the centre from where she controlled the political actions of the UPA government” and discreetly monitored the functioning of most important ministries in the government.
Predictably, the book generated a fair share of controversy and even forced the usually reticent Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh to react sharply to its contents.
Almost a year after Natwar Singh set the cat among the pigeons, Congress loyalist Margaret Alva’s autobiography could well end up doing the same. In a recent interview with Anna MM Vetticad on shethepeople.tv, Alva revealed that her book will provide details about her falling out with Sonia Gandhi in 2008 over the distribution of tickets in the Karnataka assembly elections as a result of which she had to quit all party posts. Alva was subsequently rehabilitated as governor.
Quick to speak out
Like Natwar Singh, Alva was among Sonia Gandhi’s close confidants, having been picked up by Indira Gandhi for a Rajya Sabha seat back in 1974. But unlike Natwar Singh, her misunderstanding with the Congress president did not lead to a complete breakdown in their relation. Natwar Singh fell out with Sonia Gandhi after he was named as a beneficiary in the United Nations’ oil-for-food programme in Iraq. He resigned from the government, which eventually led to his exit from the Congress.
Alva, on the other hand, maintains in the interview that she continues to have a warm and cordial relationship with Sonia Gandhi. However, this has not stopped her from writing a “tell-all” book. As Alva confessed, she has never hesitated to speak out for which she “had to pay the price”. In this particular case, Alva had publicly criticised the party for its choice of candidates, alleging that party tickets were sold by some party leaders in the 2008 Karnataka assembly elections.
Alva recalls that Sonia Gandhi was upset with her for going public with her allegations in the midst of an election and told her “You have let me down.” Alva says she sent in an 11-page resignation letter in which she gave details of all that is wrong with the Congress.
While she steered clear of blaming the Congress leadership for the mess, she did point fingers at some leaders in the party though nobody was named. If the book is as revealing as it promises to be, it could reopen old wounds and put the focus back on the internal crisis in the party.
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Expelled Congress leader and former External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh was first off the block last year with his autobiography One Life is not Enough in which he was particularly critical of party president Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Veteran Congress leader Mohsina Kidwai is in the process of putting together her memoirs, while former Union minister and governor Margaret Alva’s autobiography is due to come out soon. Indira Gandhi’s all-powerful secretary RK Dhawan, who had a ringside view of the inner functioning of the party and the government, is also planning to write a “tell-all” account of his days in the Prime Minister’s Office.
Former Union minister Salman Khurshid is writing a book that promises to provide an insight into the working of the second United Progressive Alliance government, which was marked by unsavoury scams and corruption scandals, a virtually defunct Prime Minister’s Office and squabbling Cabinet ministers.
Even if Khurshid chooses to provide a sanitised version of those five eventful years, the book may still end up embarrassing the party, which is battling for survival.
Fortunately for the First Family, it was spared the blushes as President Pranab Mukherjee’s The Dramatic Decade: The Indira Gandhi Years steered clear of all controversy.
Unable to rein in leaders
Reports about these books have once again focused attention on the ongoing generational war in the Congress. As the party prepares for a younger team under Rahul Gandhi, a large number of old-timers, who are in their mid-seventies, will find themselves out of the electoral race by the time the next elections are held. Since the party is no longer in power, it cannot accommodate these leaders as governors or chairmen of official boards and commissions. With little possibility of a position in the party, it will be difficult be rein in these footloose leaders who will have no qualms about speaking out.
Former Union minister Hans Raj Bhardwaj’s diatribe against the party leadership is a case in point. Once a self-proclaimed Gandhi family loyalist, he has not minced words in criticising Sonia Gandhi, calling her a “bechari” and charging that she was in the “grip of sycophants and corrupt people”. Luckily for the Congress, there is no news yet about Bharadwaj writing a book but then it is early days yet.
Natwar Singh’s book, in which he described the Congress president as “deliberately capricious, authoritarian, obsessively secretive and suspicious”, set the ball rolling. Calling her a “prima donna”, Natwar Singh went on to maintain that Sonia Gandhi’s residence “10 Janpath was the real seat of power and the centre from where she controlled the political actions of the UPA government” and discreetly monitored the functioning of most important ministries in the government.
Predictably, the book generated a fair share of controversy and even forced the usually reticent Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh to react sharply to its contents.
Almost a year after Natwar Singh set the cat among the pigeons, Congress loyalist Margaret Alva’s autobiography could well end up doing the same. In a recent interview with Anna MM Vetticad on shethepeople.tv, Alva revealed that her book will provide details about her falling out with Sonia Gandhi in 2008 over the distribution of tickets in the Karnataka assembly elections as a result of which she had to quit all party posts. Alva was subsequently rehabilitated as governor.
Quick to speak out
Like Natwar Singh, Alva was among Sonia Gandhi’s close confidants, having been picked up by Indira Gandhi for a Rajya Sabha seat back in 1974. But unlike Natwar Singh, her misunderstanding with the Congress president did not lead to a complete breakdown in their relation. Natwar Singh fell out with Sonia Gandhi after he was named as a beneficiary in the United Nations’ oil-for-food programme in Iraq. He resigned from the government, which eventually led to his exit from the Congress.
Alva, on the other hand, maintains in the interview that she continues to have a warm and cordial relationship with Sonia Gandhi. However, this has not stopped her from writing a “tell-all” book. As Alva confessed, she has never hesitated to speak out for which she “had to pay the price”. In this particular case, Alva had publicly criticised the party for its choice of candidates, alleging that party tickets were sold by some party leaders in the 2008 Karnataka assembly elections.
Alva recalls that Sonia Gandhi was upset with her for going public with her allegations in the midst of an election and told her “You have let me down.” Alva says she sent in an 11-page resignation letter in which she gave details of all that is wrong with the Congress.
While she steered clear of blaming the Congress leadership for the mess, she did point fingers at some leaders in the party though nobody was named. If the book is as revealing as it promises to be, it could reopen old wounds and put the focus back on the internal crisis in the party.