‘Madam is busy’: When Najma Heptulla waited for an hour to speak to Sonia Gandhi

The former Manipur Governor, then a Congress member, has narrated the episode in her just-released autobiography.

Former Manipur Governor Najma Heptulla has recalled waiting for an entire hour to speak with then-Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who ultimately did not come on the line, while then-Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee answered instantly.

Ex-Congress chief Sonia Gandhi (File Photo)

In 1999, after being elected to lead the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), an international body of national parliaments, Heptulla called the two leaders from Berlin. She recounts the episode in her autobiography, In Pursuit of Democracy: Beyond Party Lines.

Calling the presidency a “historic first and a great honour” in the book, Heptulla added: “I first telephoned the prime minister, who received the call instantly. When he heard the news, he was delighted, first because the honour had come to India, and second, it had come to an Indian Muslim woman.”

But, a member of Sonia Gandhi's staff informed that “Madam (Gandhi) is busy,” Heptulla mentioned in the book.

“When I pointed out that I was calling from Berlin, an international call, he just said, 'Please hold the line.' I waited for one full hour. Sonia never came on the line to speak to me. I was truly disappointed. After that call, I didn't tell her anything,” said Heptulla, who has been with both the Congress and BJP.

She also stated it was BJP's Vasundhara Raje who invited her and other MPs at the Parliament Annex to celebrate her election as IPU president.

Further, Heptulla claimed that after Sonia Gandhi became Congress chief in 1998, “far too many layers of people sprung up between the rank and file, and the leader.”

(With PTI inputs)