Sonia Gandhi memoir lays bare Congress power intrigue as Pranab Mukherjee eyed the top job
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Sonia Gandhi’s memoir describes a 2010 discussion in which former President Pranab Mukherjee appeared to signal a desire for the prime minister’s office, highlighting the factional maneuvering and family tensions inside Congress.
Sonia Gandhi's memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love, published by HarperCollins on November 10, 2026, recounts a 2010 conversation with then-senior minister Pranab Mukherjee that underscores the simmering ambition and internal jockeying within Congress. Gandhi wrote that Mukherjee, frustrated after a Congress Strategy Group meeting, suggested it might be time for a "change at the top," which she understood as a hint of his long-held desire to become prime minister.
"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," Gandhi wrote.
Gandhi said she gently changed the subject and noted that Mukherjee did not hold any resentment. The memoir also describes Mukherjee's role in the Manmohan Singh cabinet, his weekly coordination meetings with senior leaders such as Arjun Singh, A.K. Antony and Ahmed Patel, and her continued conversations with him after he became president in 2012, painting a picture of a political class consumed by meetings, loyalties, and careful positioning.
Mukherjee's daughter, Sharmistha Mukherjee, responded to Gandhi's remarks on social media, arguing that ambition is a normal aspect of political life and that her father had once said any serious politician would have such ambition. Her response sought to normalize what the episode plainly reveals: that aspirations for the highest office were part of the inner workings of Congress.
The book further details Gandhi's limited personal interaction with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, noting that they exchange formal greetings at semi-official events but rarely make eye contact. It also touches on her strained relationship with Maneka Gandhi, referencing historical tensions within the Gandhi family and the deeper rivalries that have long burdened the political dynasty.