The Hindu : National : “We were firm on Pratibha candidature”

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Saturday, Oct 13, 2007
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“We were firm on Pratibha candidature”

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: United Progressive Alliance Chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Friday revealed that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and she were determined to persist with Pratibha Patil as the presidential candidate despite the Opposition’s smear campaign against her.

She said suggestions of “tension” with Dr. Singh were made by those who did not know either of them and that he was her only choice as Prime Minister.

In an interaction with Vir Sanghvi at the Hindustan Times (HT) Leadership Summit here, she fully backed the government, and was more than satisfied with its performance. She felt the only area where improvements could be made was to tighten the delivery systems. She was not surprised at the smear campaign against Ms. Patil because she knew the Opposition would go to “any extent” to block her election as President. “That is the way they are. I went to the Prime Minister and he said to me we are not going to change the candidate. He was absolutely on board with me. The Opposition wanted to create an atmosphere to divide the coalition partners. They wanted to mount enough pressure to change the candidate come what may.”

On her ties with Dr. Singh, “Actually I have worked with the Prime Minister. Before the elections, at a series of meetings, he shared our goals. He was also the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and we worked very closely. We are not competitors. There is a certain frankness between us.”

There was also no doubt in her mind that Dr. Singh should be the Prime Minister and creating the post of a Deputy Prime Minister was never considered.

Admitting she was reluctant to enter politics because she had seen the “worst of it” and had opposed Rajiv Gandhi’s entry as she felt afraid of “losing him,” Ms. Gandhi said there were many good people cutting across party lines in politics. She decided to play an active role after seeing “certain forces against which my family had lived and died” gaining ascendancy. “I could no longer sit and watch this happening. I would have felt like a coward.”

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