{"id":669418,"date":"2026-11-10T12:21:08","date_gmt":"2026-11-10T16:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.malayalamdailynews.com\/english\/669418\/"},"modified":"2026-11-10T12:21:08","modified_gmt":"2026-11-10T16:21:08","slug":"what-is-wrong-with-pranab-mukherjee-wanting-to-be-prime-minister-sharp-criticism-from-sharmishta-mukherjee-on-sonia-gandhis-remarks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.malayalamdailynews.com\/english\/669418\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is Wrong with Pranab Mukherjee Wanting to Be Prime Minister? Sharp Criticism from Sharmishta Mukherjee on Sonia Gandhi\u2019s Remarks"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"What<\/figure>\n

New Delhi: Former President and senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee had aspired to become India\u2019s Prime Minister, a disclosure by former Congress president Sonia Gandhi that has triggered sharp criticism from his daughter Sharmishta Mukherjee. The controversy arose from Sonia Gandhi\u2019s remarks about Pranab Mukherjee\u2019s political ambitions in her autobiography, 'Belonging: A Journey of Love.'<\/p>\n

Sharmishta Mukherjee clarified that there is nothing unnatural about aspiring to be Prime Minister, especially for a seasoned leader who has served the country for decades. She said such political ambition should not be viewed with surprise or skepticism. Sharmishta responded strongly to Sonia Gandhi\u2019s comments via social media, asking what was wrong with a leader of exceptional intelligence, extensive experience, and hard work desiring the nation\u2019s highest executive post.<\/p>\n

She questioned the rationale behind representing such an ambition as something shocking. Sharmishta also asked whether Sonia Gandhi was unsettled by the fact that a person outside the Gandhi-Nehru family wanted the position of Prime Minister. Pointing out that her father did not have the privileges of family lineage to rise to high political office, she emphasized that his strengths lay in his own talent, hard work, and recognition earned through political work.<\/p>\n

Her response included a sarcastic remark that no one was in a position to hand over power at will in the name of family prestige to Pranab Mukherjee. Pranab Mukherjee was a leader who played a key role for decades in the organisational work and central governance of the Congress. Entrusted with important portfolios such as Finance, Defence, and External Affairs, he was instrumental in policy formulation and administrative decisions in various Congress governments.<\/p>\n

Against this backdrop, Sonia Gandhi\u2019s remarks concerning Pranab Mukherjee\u2019s interest in the Prime Ministerial post have reignited political debates. The focal point of the controversy is an occurrence described from 2010 in Sonia Gandhi\u2019s autobiography. She writes that after differences of opinion with then Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram, Pranab Mukherjee suggested the need for some changes in the governance structure. Sonia Gandhi says she was shocked by this proposal and interpreted his stance for leadership change as motivated by his desire to become Prime Minister.<\/p>\n

However, Sharmishta Mukherjee argues that it is natural for a leader with long political and administrative experience like Pranab Mukherjee to aspire for the Prime Ministership. Her criticism highlights that portraying the ambitions of someone who has effectively handled numerous responsibilities throughout his political career as an extraordinary event is unacceptable.<\/p>\n

This revelation adds a new dimension to discussions on the political relationship between the Congress leadership and Pranab Mukherjee. A stalwart who held crucial responsibilities in the Congress-led UPA governments, he became India\u2019s 13th President in 2012. He served as President until 2017 and passed away on August 31, 2020.<\/p>\n

Sonia Gandhi\u2019s autobiography does not only mention Pranab Mukherjee but also recalls prominent leaders who had significant influence during various phases of the Congress party, including Ahmed Patel, Arjun Singh, A.K. Antony, Madhav Rao Sindhia, and Sheila Dikshit. The book includes Sonia Gandhi\u2019s personal assessments of party dynamics, differences among leaders, and decisions at the governance level.<\/p>\n

With the public response from Sharmishta Mukherjee to Sonia Gandhi\u2019s remarks published on Tuesday, the discussions around the Congress\u2019s past governance and leadership contests for the Prime Ministerial position are once again in focus. Significantly, Sharmishta\u2019s reaction raises the question of how the Congress leadership has approached the political ambitions of senior leaders outside the Gandhi family.<\/p>\n

n<\/p>\n

Original Malayalam report: Malayalam Daily News<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Delhi: Former President and senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee had aspired to become India\u2019s Prime Minister, a disclosure by former Congress president Sonia Gandhi that has triggered sharp criticism from his daughter Sharmishta Mukherjee. The controversy arose from Sonia Gandhi\u2019s remarks about Pranab Mukherjee\u2019s political ambitions in her autobiography, 'Belonging: A Journey of Love.' Sharmishta Mukherjee clarified that there is nothing unnatural about aspiring to be Prime Minister, especially for a seasoned leader who has served the country for decades. She said such political ambition should not be viewed…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":669419,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[582,170397,47748],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-669418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english","category-india","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.malayalamdailynews.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.malayalamdailynews.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.malayalamdailynews.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.malayalamdailynews.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=669418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.malayalamdailynews.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669418\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.malayalamdailynews.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/669419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.malayalamdailynews.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=669418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.malayalamdailynews.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=669418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.malayalamdailynews.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=669418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}