“Sonia Gandhi did not trust me”, Najma Heptulla mentions many incidents in her book. – eSHOP24X7

Former Union Minister Najma Heptulla, in her autobiography ‘In Pursuit of Democracy: Beyond Party Lines’, has mentioned some of the incidents that took place in the Congress Party under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi. He raised questions about the party’s working style after Sonia Gandhi became party president in 1998 and said direct communication between party workers and the management had broken down at that time. Direct communication with 10 Janpath was cut off because the junior officers working there were only employees and other staff, who were not actual party workers.

Najma Heptulla was in the Congress Party until 2004 before joining the BJP. Heptulla, who became a Rajya Sabha member in 1980 and was vice-president of the Upper House for 17 years, has revealed several incidents in her autobiography showing the growing mistrust between her and the then Congress president Sonia Gandhi. He has also said in his autobiography that before joining the BJP in 2004, the atmosphere had changed for him in the Congress Party.

The former Union minister wrote: “There was a lack of quality in communication between us and we had no idea who was in our leader’s in-group or out-group, or how we could support his point of view. “It started to decline.” Najma Heptulla recounted an incident that occurred in 1999 when she wanted to call Sonia Gandhi from Berlin to inform her that she was going to be president of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), but one of Gandhi’s employees first said: “Mom is busy” and then: “Please stay on the line.” He said they made him wait for an hour, but Sonia Gandhi never came to talk to him on the phone. The former Rajya Sabha MP wrote in his book: “Every country, culture and family has special moments that are above the flow of ordinary life. This was a moment for me that forever left me with a feeling of rejection. However , this rejection was later proven to be correct.”

When Sonia Gandhi wanted me to leave the Congress

Former Manipur governor Najma Heptulla, in her autobiography ‘In Pursuit of Democracy: Beyond Party Lines’, also mentioned another incident from 1999, when many senior Congress leaders felt marginalized in the party. Sharad Pawar, PA Sangma and Tariq Anwar left the party over the issue of Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin and formed the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Rajesh Pilot and Jitendra Prasad also opposed the Gandhi family. Najma Heptulla remained in the party, but Sonia began to suggest that she would eventually leave the party and align with Sharad Pawar. Heptulla described it as strange and said: “This idea of ​​Sonia’s was strange. She trusted very few people and I felt like she didn’t trust me.”

Comparison of Sonia Congress with Indira Gandhi era

Heptulla compared Sonia Gandhi’s Congress with her mother-in-law Indira Gandhi’s era. Heptulla lashed out at Sonia and said, “We were operating out of more than just deep mistrust. We were isolated from Sonia Gandhi and could not communicate with her. This was a radical and serious change from the previous Congress culture. Indira Gandhi always worked with an open heart. He warmly welcomed all visitors from all over the country.” The former Congress leader said, “I could approach Indira Gandhi at any time and in my own way I could give her information about things at the basic level. I never criticized her strongly, I just pointed out to her the things that I experienced at the basic level.”

Heptulla, the longest-serving speaker of any parliament in the world, criticized Sonia Gandhi’s working style because lines of communication within the organization had broken down. “As Congress supporters we no longer had an active role in giving feedback to our leader, which is so important for the party’s good performance,” he said in his autobiography.

Sonia Gandhi’s behavior with Sitaram Kesari

Najma Heptulla, in her autobiography, also raised questions about Sonia Gandhi’s behavior to senior Congress leaders Sitaram Kesari and PV Narasimha Rao. He said that after Sitaram Kesri was elected president of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) in 1997, he was waiting for Sonia Gandhi at 10 Janpath one day, when Kesri was also asked to wait. As time passed, he became angry and said, “I am the treasurer of the party, not an ordinary member. She (Heptulla) is the vice-president of the Rajya Sabha. We are not here for formalities, but to discuss serious issues. “Have we come to do this and ask us to wait like this?” Heptulla wrote that after this insult, Kesari left there.

Heptulla said: “When Sonia Gandhi decided to take over the leadership of the party from Sitaram Kesri, many questions were raised within the party about her ability and experience. Her lack of experience, her Italian origin and her command of Hindi raised concerns about her preparation and suitability for the position due to his limited fluency and worked tirelessly to convince the party leadership and workers that he was truly prepared and capable of being an effective leader.

Sonia Gandhi’s relationship with PV Narasimha Rao

The former Union Minister wrote in his autobiography that Sonia Gandhi had a strained relationship with former Prime Minister PV Narasimha. He told him that Sonia Gandhi wanted Rao to inform her, but Rao refused and then he had to suffer the consequences. He said: “The Congress never recognized the economic reforms carried out by Rao that led to the economic transformation of the country. When he was accused of corruption, which was never proven, the Congress did not support him and when he lost the elections in 1996, Rao passed his last days without friends and suffering from health problems. The last insult was that after his death, the Congress performed his last rites in Delhi.

The reasons for his departure from Congress revealed

Former Union Minister Najma Heptulla blamed Sonia Gandhi for her decision to leave the Congress in 2004. In her autobiography, she said that she had to face harassment many times from people close to Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Heptulla alleged that people close to Sonia Gandhi used to pressure him to leave his job in Parliament and join Congress programmes, such as participating in dharnas or garlanding statues of former Congress leaders on their birth and death anniversaries. He also revealed that he used to help Sonia Gandhi in preparing all her speeches, but despite this his support was never enough for Sonia. “When I was left out of important party decisions that were directly related to me, I felt isolated,” Heptulla said.

“Sonia Gandhi never called me”

He also raised the issue of complete sabotage of party affairs by the Gandhi family. “The Congress Party stagnated and leadership development stopped due to Sonia Gandhi’s insecurities. Every leader was forced to work under the thumb of a family that controlled everything,” he alleged. Najma Heptulla also said that Sonia Gandhi never called her or contacted Sonia Gandhi. On June 10, 2004, he resigned from the post of Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha and also resigned from the Congress Party. Following this, Najma Heptulla joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in July 2004.

Read this too-

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu appears in court for the first time and testifies in corruption case

New twist in Mumbai’s BEST bus accident: Police made sensational claim about driver

Latest news from India