WikiLeaks: Sonia "felt better" that someone else became PM in 2004

LONDON: After stepping aside in favour of Manmohan Singh to head the new UPA government in 2004, Congress President Sonia Gandhi "felt better" that someone else became prime minister and did not regret her decision.

According to a secret US cable released by WikiLeaks , Gandhi has also promised to write a book detailing the tense moments on the issue of who will become prime minister after the Congress-led UPA emerged victorious in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections.

Stating that she is often asked why she turned down the top job, Italian-born Gandhi told a visiting US dignitary in New Delhi in 2006 that "I am often asked about this, but tell people that I will write a book someday with the whole story."

The 2006 cable details Gandhi's meeting with Maria Shriver, the First Lady of California and wife of Governor Arnold Shwarznegger. It is is titled 'A Garrulous Sonia Gandhi Opens Up to Maria Shriver'.

Reporting the meeting, the cable says about Gandhi: "She would only say that she 'felt better' that someone else became PM and 'did not regret' her decision."

"Shriver congratulated Mrs Gandhi for her resoluteness and described her as 'courageous.'"

To read more, click here

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/WikiLeaks-Sonia-felt-better-that-someone-else-became-PM-in-2004/articleshow/7118227.cms

anjitha : 03