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Journalism of Courage
Exercising her new authority as chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party to name the CPP leader to head the government, Sonia Gandhi called upon her most trusted advisor Manmohan Singh to take ‘‘on this great responsibility’’ and urged all party MPs “to give him unstinted support.”
Earlier in the day, Sonia Gandhi said she was “totally overwhelmed by the outpouring of emotion from nearly every corner of our country” against her decision not to be prime minister” but stuck to her guns.
Making clear that she was not renouncing the world and walking off into the sunset, she said in a written statement: “I am not going anywhere. I am still very much in politics … I am one of you. And nothing will ever change that.”
Clearly affected by the positive reaction to her decision, she added,”We live in times when politics is about power. Let us show the world that for the Congress party, politics is about values and integrity.” She also called upon party workers and sympathisers to support the new Congress prime minister and new cabinet and assured them that ‘‘I will always be here, working for the party. The Congress is my life.”
The formal “transfer of power” took place at a closed-door CPP meeting in the Central Hall of Parliament with none of the scenes of protest and anguish witnessed last night. Having come to terms with Sonia Gandhi’s decision and even exulting at its positive impact around the country, Conress MPs smoothly carried out the transition after amending the CPP constitution.
The amended Clause 5 of the party constitution created the post of a chairperson of the CPP to be elected by the members of both Houses of Parliament. The Chairperson was authorised to nominate two leaders of the party—one for Lok Sabha and one for Rajya Sabha—as well as deputy leaders and whips. The operative sentence was “the chairperson shall have the authority to name the leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party to head the government, if necessary.”
On being elected to the post, Sonia Gandhi nominated Manomohan Singh with just one line of description—”I have always admired his qualities of head and heart.”
Singh, on his part, paid fulsome compliments to his leader, saying that he was no substitute to Sonia Gandhi and promising to live up “to the great trust” she had reposed in him. He spoke at length about the contributions of the Nehru-Gandhi family to naion-building but said the task was “far from complete.” Striking a personal note, he said he was born in a poor family and had depended on scholarships to get ahead. “I know therefore that India needs to be emancipated from war, want and exploitation,” he said, according to Jaipal Reddy who later briefed the press.
Sonia Gandhi and Manomohan Singh left straight for the Rashtrapati Bhavan from Parliament House, taking the process of government formation forward after several days in limbo.
