Pm’s regard for pranab mukherjee remains undiminished: Sharmistha

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s regard for Pranab Mukherjee “remains undiminished,” said the late president’s daughter and former Congress spokesperson Sharmistha Mukherjee here on Monday.

Sharmistha said this after calling on PM Modi and presenting him with a copy of her book “In Pranab, My Father: A Daughter Remembers”.
“Called on Hon’ble PM Shri @narendramodi ji to present him a copy of my book ‘Pranab My Father: A Daughter Remembers’. He was as kind to me as he always had been & his regards for Baba remains undiminished. Thank you Sir,” Sharmistha said in a post on X (formerly Twitter). In the pictures, shared by Sharmishtha, the PM can be seen holding a conversation with her.

In her book, Sharmishtha has recalled several incidents and her memories with the former president. Revealing the former president’s views on the Gandhi family and his doubts about Rahul Gandhi’s leadership skills, she claimed, he had thought of Rahul Gandhi as a politician who is “yet to mature.”

In a conversation with ANI earlier, Sharmishtha said that Pranab Mukherjee once described Rahul Gandhi as “very courteous” and “full of questions” but “yet to mature politically”.
According to her, the former president had questioned Rahul Gandhi’s ability to tell the difference between ‘AM’ and ‘PM’.

“One morning, during Pranab’s usual morning walk in the Mughal Gardens (now Amrit Udyan), Rahul came to see him. Pranab disliked any interruptions during his morning walks and puja. Nevertheless, he decided to meet him. It turned out that Rahul was actually scheduled to meet Pranab later in the evening, but his (Rahul’s) office mistakenly informed him that the meeting was in the morning. I came to know about the incident from one of the ADCs. When I asked my father, he commented sardonically, ‘If Rahul’s office can’t differentiate between ‘a.m’ and ‘p.m’, how do they hope to run the PMO one day?” she told ANI.

The book referred to one of Pranab Mukherjee’s diary entries in which he explained how he advised the Wayanad MP to join the Cabinet to get some first-hand experience in governance.

“He (Pranab) has not written much about Rahul Gandhi. During one of these visits on 25 March 2013, Pranab noted, ‘Rahul Gandhi is very courteous and has an interest in a diverse range of subjects but moves very quickly from one subject to another. I don’t know how much he listened and absorbed, he (Rahul Gandhi) is yet to be mature politically,” she said.
The author further mentioned an incident wherein he questioned Rahul Gandhi’s ability to lead the Congress and to hold the post of PM.
She also recounted several memories with her father and disclosed the former president’s interest in becoming the PM.

She said that Pranab Mukherjee wanted to become the Prime Minister of India, but Congress leader Sonia Gandhi “safeguarded” her own family’s interest and paved the way for Manmohan Singh to hold the post in 2004.

“Yes, he wanted to become the PM, but he knew that he couldn’t become one, so he was not in some disillusionment that he’ll become a PM one day…I asked him once if he wanted to become a PM and he said yes, any serious politician would like to become one but that doesn’t mean that I’d become the PM…,” she said.
Sharmishtha further said that Congress leader Sonia Gandhi had assumed that Pranab Mukherjee could have challenged her authority.

“He (Pranab) said that maybe Sonia Gandhi had assumed that he might challenge the authority of Sonia Gandhi…he said that the question was not whether I would have challenged it or not but she felt that…Sonia Gandhi safeguarded her own and her family’s interest so they made someone PM whom they felt would not challenge her authority,” she said.