Manmohan Singh: Pranab Mukherjee should have been Indian PM instead of me

Former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Pranab Mukherjee had reasons to be aggrieved if he believed that he was better qualified to be the prime minister. He made the statement at the launch of the former President’s memoirs, The Coalition Years, on Saturday, reports the Hindu. Manmohan described Pranab as one of the greatest living Congressmen and parliamentarians, and recalled their association in the Finance Ministry since the early 1970s. He said: “Then came 2004 when Soniaji chose me as the Prime Minister and Pranabji was the most distinguished colleague that I had. He had every reason to feel a grievance that he was better qualified than I was to become the prime minister. “But he also knows that I had no choice in the matter.” The formal book launch turned into a virtual show of strength for many in the Opposition as the former President was joined by Manmohan Singh, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Sitaram Yechury of the CPI(M), CPI leader Sudhakar Reddy and Kanimozhi of the DMK on the dais. Former President Pranab Mukherjee said his book was about how he “looked at men and matters as an active political participant.” “I have tried to be as clinical as possible but I can’t claim the objectivity of a historian as I am a party activist,” he said. In the book, Pranab wrote he was furious over the arrest of Jayendra Saraswati, the Sankaracharya of Kanchi in November 2004. He said: “During the Cabinet meeting, I was extremely critical of the timing of the arrest and questioned if the basic tenets of secularism of the Indian state were confined only to Hindu monks and seers? Would the state machinery dare to arrest a Muslim cleric during Id festivities?” He said that in one of his meetings with Sonia Gandhi, he “returned with a vague impression that she might want to consider Manmohan Singh as the UPA’s presidential nominee”.