New Delhi: Former President Pranab Mukherjee had “shocked” Sonia Gandhi by hinting at his “long-held desire” to become Prime Minister during a conversation in 2010, suggesting that perhaps it was time for a “change at the top,” the former Congress president has written in her memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love.
The book, published by HarperCollins, was made available in bookstores on Tuesday (November 10, 2026), with the official launch likely to take place on November 16.
The 2010 Conversation
Mukherjee, then a senior member of the Manmohan Singh Cabinet, had developed serious differences with then Finance Minister P. Chidambaram. He would sometimes stay back for conversations with Ms. Gandhi after meetings of the Congress Strategy Group.
“On one occasion, in 2010, I think after expressing his frustration, he shocked me with the suggestion that perhaps it was time for a change at the top, which I understood as a hint of his long-held desire to become Prime Minister,” she wrote.
“I gently changed the subject, and though he may have been disappointed, he never made me feel he held it against me,” she added.
The late Mukherjee, who had served in Indira Gandhi’s Cabinet in the 1970s, was part of a core group that met weekly with Dr. Singh. Other members included Arjun Singh, A.K. Antony and Ahmed Patel.
Ms. Gandhi says she often called on Mukherjee after he became President in 2012, largely to converse with the “erudite and knowledgeable politician that he always remained.”
Sharmistha Mukherjee Hits Back
Sharmistha Mukherjee, the late President’s daughter, responded sharply on X: “What’s there to be shocked about?”
“Is it a crime to be ambitious, especially when that ‘ambition’ was supported by decades of experience in politics and governance, hard work and a brilliant mind?” she wrote. “Once, when asked by me whether he wanted to become PM, he very candidly answered that ‘any politician worth his salt has this ambition.'”
On Narendra Modi
On her relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Ms. Gandhi said she had “practically no real contact” with him. At semi-official gatherings, they exchange formal namastes, but “he tends to look away, avoiding eye contact,” she wrote.
On Maneka Gandhi
The memoir also recounts her strained relationship with Maneka Gandhi, describing how domestic differences following her marriage to Sanjay Gandhi gradually spilled into politics.
She recalled Indira Gandhi’s displeasure with Ms. Maneka’s political activities, particularly after the Emergency, and the eventual break in ties, with the younger daughter-in-law walking out of the family home.
