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Sonia Gandhi could have named Sharad Pawar PM in 2004: Ramdas Athawale
Athawale said that after the 2004 elections, if Sonia Gandhi was not willing to take up the post of prime minister, veteran politician, and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar could also have been asked to take the office instead of Manmohan Singh.
Union minister Ramdas Athawale, often known for his controversial remarks, said on Saturday that the fuss over Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi being of foreign origin is “meaningless”. Pointing out that if Indian-origin Kamala Harris could become the vice president of the United States, the RPI(A) chief asked why Sonia Gandhi cannot become the prime minister of India. Following this line of reasoning, Athawale said that Sonia Gandhi could have become the prime minister of India when the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) won a majority after the 2004 Lok Sabha elections.
“When the UPA got a majority in the 2004 elections, I had proposed that Sonia Gandhi should become prime minister,” Athawale told reporters in Indore. “I was of the view that her foreign origin issue had no meaning.”
“If Kamala Harris can become the vice president of the US, then why couldn't Sonia Gandhi, a citizen of India, the wife of Rajiv Gandhi (a former prime minister) and elected Lok Sabha MP, become the Prime Minister?" Athawale was quoted as saying by the PTI news agency.
Athawale also said that after the 2004 elections, if Sonia Gandhi was not willing to take up the post of prime minister, veteran politician, and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar could also have been asked to take the office instead of Manmohan Singh. Incidentally, Union minister and RPI(A) chief Athawale's comments came a day ahead of former prime minister Manmohan Singh's birthday on September 26.
The Union minister said that had Pawar become the country's prime minister in 2004, the Congress' position would have been strengthened and that party could have been saved from its present precarious condition. Praising the NCP chief for his role as a veteran public leader and calling him a deserving candidate for the prime ministerial post, Athawale said, “He [Pawar] should have been made PM in place of Manmohan Singh but Sonia Gandhi did not do so.”
Notably, Sharad Pawar was expelled from Congress in 1999 for raising the issue of Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin. He later formed the NCP. Manmohan Singh served as prime minister from 2004 to 2014 and was succeeded by Narendra Modi after the BJP came to power with a resounding majority.
Athawale also appealed to Amarinder Singh, who stepped down recently as Punjab chief minister owing to a power tussle in the state party unit, to join the BJP or the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in view of "humiliation" meted out to him by Congress. “If Singh joins the BJP, the party's position will be strengthened in the upcoming Assembly elections in Punjab.”
