The News Minute | July 31, 2014 | 10.46 am ISTOnce a close aide of the Gandhi family and a former Union Minister, Natwar Singh’s book One Life is Not Enough: An Autobiography will be the cause of much talk, given how much he has to say about Congress Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and the party itself. The book has not been released yet, but Singh has given interviews to television channels and snippets of the book are being discussed in the media. Singh had a falling out with Sonia Gandhi over the Iraqi food for oil scam, in which he and his son Jagat Singh had been implicated by the Volcker committee. Singh disappeared into political oblivion after that, and has been bitter about it since.Here are seven things that Singh says in his book: Why did Sonia Gandhi turn down the post of prime minister when she was elected in 2004? That has always been the subject of much speculation. According to Singh, Rahul Gandhi was strongly opposed to the idea of his mother Sonia becoming prime minister as he feared she would also lose her life the way his father Rajiv and grandmother Indira had. According to Singh, Rahul gave her a 24-hour deadline to refuse and announce her decision. This meeting was apparently witnessed by Manmohan Singh, Priyanka and Suman Dubey. The Congress has often projected Sonia’s refusal to become prime minister as a selfless act, and Sonia herself had stated that it was her inner voice that had prevented her from taking up the post. He also claimed that Sonia and Priyanka visited him on May 7 and asked him not reveal the real reason Sonia Gandhi had refused prime ministership. During this meeting, Sonia had embraced him, apologized to him for the way he had been treated over the Volcker committee report, and told him her was her closest friend, to whom she had told things she had never confided even to her children.In an interview to Headlines Today, Singh claimed that an officer in the prime minister’s office named Pulok Chatterjee had been passing important government files to Gandhi.Singh claimed that Sonia Gandhi had more control over the Congress than either Nehru or Indira had.He said that when the Congress came to power in 1991, Sonia Gandhi’s first choice as prime minister was Shankar Dayal Sharma. When he refused citing poor health, she named P V Narasimha Rao.Singh has also called Sonia a lot of unflattering things: authoritarian, capricious, Machiavellian, secretive.According to Singh, Sonia Gandhi is a historical personality, and historical personalities don't have privacy.
