Sonia Gandhi has spoken of her “heart sinking” when she went to Rashtrapati Bhavan in 1999 and faced a huge troupe of journalists here. The former Congress President chronicles the incident and the political uncertainty surrounding it in a personal story in her recently released memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love.
The incident came after Atal Bihayee-style government fell to the failure of the AIADMK to grant support to the U-turn. The incident followed the failure of the U-turn by AIADMK chief J Jayalalitha when it came to Atal Bihayee-style government. The Congress then as the large Opposition party started talks with regional and Left parties about the formation of an alternative government.
Sonia Gandhi claimed that Congress and its allies got support of 233 MPs and several other leaders had promised their backing. She was sure the number of those people would reach the desired 272 in the 543-member Lok Sabha house and thus addressed the President to stake her claim to form a government.
But it did not work out for her when she met the press outside Rashtrapati Bhavan. She spoke with reporters about her calculations, and explained how she arrived at her grand total of 272. Others also pointed to a failure of the Congress to estimate the level of support.
Gandhi said he tried to remain calm and composed in spite of feeling nervous. The numbers were calculated in consultation with the leaders of the alliances, she said, and she is confident that more talks would eventually get the required support.
The promised support has however not materialized. The pitfall was partially due to ‘political rivalries’ according to her in a memoir, some of whom sought to be Prime Minister, among political leaders.
It marked an important point in Sonia Gandhi’s early political career as it was an attempt that failed and underlined the difficulties of forming coalitions and of having parliamentary majority.