Prez recalls Jakhar's dream of heading Cong in book

Did Balram Jakhar fancy the idea of being nominated as Congress president after Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination? Jakhar “hinted” so to Pranab Mukherjee, according to the President’s autobiography released recently.

In the second volume of his autobiography “The Turbulent Years: 1980-1996,” Mukherjee remembers the day after Rajiv’s assassination when a meeting of Congress Working Committee was called to discuss succession plan for a Congress president.

The meeting, which was chaired by senior leader from Kerala K Karunakaran, after a lengthy discussion unanimously decided that Sonia Gandhi should be requested to become party chief.

“I was aware of a provision in the Congress constitution, which stated that in the event of an unexpected vacancy, the seniormost general secretary could take over as President. Balram Jakhar hinted to me that he should be considered as he was the seniormost general secretary,” the book states.

“However, it seemed that nobody else was aware of this provision and the mood was in favour of Sonia Gandhi. I pointed out to Balram Jakhar that as he had been a Speaker in Parliament until 1989, he could not be considered the seniormost general secretary of the party. Later that night, I announced the CWC's decision to invite Sonia Gandhi to assume the post of Congress president,” he remembers.