Congress president Sonia Gandhi has said she will write her own book to tell the truth following damning allegations made by former external affairs minister and ex-Congress veteran K Natwar Singh claimed in his book.
"I will write my own book and then everyone will know the truth ... The only way the truth will come out is if I write. I am serious about this," Sonia said, according to NDTV.
Singh had said earlier the Congress chief refused to become the prime minister in 2004 under pressure from son Rahul Gandhi.
Singh said what was touted then as Sonia's political sacrifice was a sham, and not because she was listening to her "inner voice". He said the prime ministership was handed to Manmohan Singh as Rahul feared his mother could be killed if she became the prime minister.
"This wasn't because her inner voice prevented her, it was because her son put his foot down and insisted that his mother wouldn't be the PM...," Singh wrote in the book.
"Rahul was totally against her mother becoming PM. He said she would be killed like his father and her mother-in-law."
The decision was reportedly taken on 18 May 2004 in the presence of Manmohan Singh, Gandhi family's close friend Suman Dubey, Sonia's daughter Priyanka Vadra and Singh himself, the book revealed.
"I can't be hurt, I have seen my mother in law riddled by bullets, my husband dead...I am far from getting hurt with these things...Let them continue to do this it will not affect me...They can continue to do this if they so please," Sonia said, refuting Singh's claims.
In an interview with the Headlines Today, Singh said although Sonia refused to become the prime minister in 2004 she was still controlling the PM's office.
Manmohan Singh's Principal Secretary Pulok Chatterji used to take the government files to Sonia, when the UPA-II government was in power, Singh said.
"Sonia very discreetly monitored the functioning of the most important ministries in the government, displaying a Machiavellian side to her character," he told the Indian Express.
The latest accusation followed Manmohan Singh's former media adviser Sanjaya Baru aired the same view in his book "The Accidental Prime Minister."
However, Manmohan Singh refuted Singh's allegations and reportedly said that no files were ever sent to Sonia's residence.
Singh explicitly mentioned about Sonia in a section of his autobiography "One Life is Not Enough" where he revealed why Sonia had to let go of prime ministership.
