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The result of the 2014 general election, which saw the BJP storm into power, would have been different and the Congress would not have suffered a humiliating defeat if Pranab Mukherjee was made Prime Minister and Dr Manmohan Singh the President during the UPA-II government, veteran Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar has said.
The former Union Minister spoke to news agency PTI about his new book, A Maverick In Politics, in which he has chronicled his political journey and also narrated developments of national importance that he witnessed during that journey.
Speaking about the Congress's worst Lok Sabha polls performance in 2014 -- it won just 44 seats --, Mr Aiyar said that a major factor behind the Congress's dismal show was "no governance" in 2013.
EXCLUSIVE | VIDEO: “You see, in 2012, we had two disasters taking place: one was that Sonia Gandhi fell very ill, and Dr Manmohan Singh had six bypasses. So, we were crippled at the head of the government and at the head of the party. But there was one man who was still full of… pic.twitter.com/YVokYR3dDJ
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) December 15, 2024
"You see, in 2012, we had two disasters taking place: one was that Sonia Gandhi fell very ill, and Dr Manmohan Singh had six bypasses. So, we were crippled at the head of the government and at the head of the party," the 83-year-old said.
"But there was one man who was still full of energy, full of ideas, had a certain amount of charisma, and could have run either the party or the government or even both. And that was Pranab Mukherjee. So, Pranab Mukherjee says in his own biography, what I had guessed at that time, that he was hoping that he would be made Prime Minister in place of Dr Manmohan Singh and that Dr Manmohan Singh would be given due respect as the President of India, as somebody who had made a huge contribution to the development of our country," Mr Aiyar said.
"And if that had happened, if Dr Manmohan Singh had become the President and Pranab had become the PM, I still think we would have lost in 2014 (Lok Sabha polls), but not by this massive humiliating defeat that we actually had, where we fell to 44 seats," he added.
Mr Aiyar, whose off-the-cuff remarks have often raised political storms, compared the Congress's 2014 show with its all-time best of scoring 414 seats in the 1984 polls held in the aftermath of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's assassination. He said with its top leaders unwell in 2012, the ruling Congress could not defend itself against the BJP's political attacks.
"A party that had been at 414 in December 1984 had fallen by 2014 to 44 seats. That is because there was no governance in 2013, everyone was recovering from illness, a lot of charges were made against us which had never been established in a court of law. In the 2G case, where (DMK leaders) A Raja and K Kanimozhi spent a year in detention in Tihar jail, nothing has come out," he said.
"The government did not seem to be able to influence the dialogue, I think Pranab (Mukherjee would have provided governance. Even if that governance was not enough to save us, at least we would not have been reduced to 44 seats, we would have been reduced to 140 seats," he said.
Asked why Pranab Mukherjee was not named the Prime Minister, Mr Aiyar said, "He says and I have quoted him that when Sonia (Gandhi) went to the Kaushambi Hills to recover, he had heard that she was contemplating making him the Prime Minister. Now why she decided to remain with the status quo, I don't know. You would have to ask her."
Pranab Mukherjee, a seasoned Congress leader and an expert strategist, was elected President in 2012 after a four-decade career with the Congress. A veteran leader who commanded respect across party lines, Mr Mukherjee handled key portfolios in the Union government, including Finance, External Affairs and Defence. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 2019, a year before his death during the Covid pandemic.