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Sonia says will write a book to reveal the truth New Delhi, July 31 As the Congress chief rose in her own defence, the party stood behind her, led by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who said “no files from the PMO were ever sent to Sonia”. Singh went to the extent of admonishing Natwar Singh and his likes against making “capital of private conversations”. Sonia broke from her reticent past today to engage with reporters outside Parliament. She had chosen not to react when former Media Adviser to Manmohan Singh Sanjaya Baru made similar allegations. Sonia chose speech over silence today perhaps because the allegations came from a man whom “she deeply trusted once”, as a Congress insider put it. So she stopped for inquiring mediapersons to say she was serious about writing a book and revealing the truth. Asked if Natwar Singh’s insinuations had hurt her, Sonia said she was not the one to be flustered by “such things”. “I was not scared even when my mother-in-law and husband were assassinated. I have seen worse. These things do not affect me,” said Sonia. “I will write my own book and then you will know the truth. That’s the only way to reveal the truth. I will write,” she asserted. Natwar’s forthcoming autobiography reveals sensitive private conversations involving Sonia and her aides and describes her as authoritarian among other things. The most damaging of Natwar’s comments is that it was Rahul Gandhi’s insistence which led Sonia to decline the PM’s post in 2004 and not her “inner voice” as she had claimed. Natwar’s book “One Life is Not Enough” says Rahul feared for his mother’s life and hence asked her to decline the post. The related conversation, he writes, happened in his presence with Manmohan Singh, Sonia’s aide Suman Dubey and Priyanka Gandhi around. Natwar went to the extent of revealing that Sonia and Priyanka recently called on him to persuade him to drop this portion from his memoirs. In an interview to a news channel, Natwar today said Sonia mistreated him despite his loyalty to the Gandhi family because she was an Italian and not an Indian. He attributed her "ruthless" part to her origin. Manmohan Singh, under whom Natwar was the Foreign Minister, lashed out at his former colleague, saying “people should not draw capital by making certain private conversations public”. “This is their way of trying to market their products,” the former PM said responding to the book by Natwar and earlier by Baru, who made similar claims that government files were sent to Sonia. Manmohan said no such thing happened. The Congress as a whole slammed Natwar saying he was trying to please the BJP by making anti-Sonia allegations. Party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi described Natwar’s comments as “insinuations and allegations” and said the former minister had misused his position of trust in the party by distorting facts to suit his political ends considering his son is now a BJP legislator in Rajasthan. “He had once tried to join the BJP after leaving the Congress in 2008,” Singhvi said. The Congress leader while remaining noncommittal on whether a defamation suit would be filed against Natwar said, “Political issues require political handling.” Natwar had resigned from the Manmohan Cabinet after allegations of involvement in the “food for oil” scam during the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq. Natwar attacks Sonia’s Italian origin
Natwar Singh told a news channel that Sonia Gandhi mistreated him despite his loyalty to the Gandhi family because she was an Italian and not an Indian. He attributed her "ruthless" part to her origin. “No Indian would treat a man who was loyal to family for 45 years who had been very close to her and 30 years older... It is just not done in India. There is a part (of Sonia) which is ruthless,” he said.
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