Sonia: ‘Begged Rajiv, Never Stopped Rahul'

Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) Chairperson Sonia Gandhi recalled she had "begged" her husband Rajiv Gandhi not to enter politics, but when it came to her son Rahul Gandhi, she "did not resist it", she wrote in her memoir '"Belonging: A Journey Of Love".

In her book, which hit stands worldwide on Tuesday, Gandhi wrote that "Rahul had a long-standing interest in politics" and respected his father, Rajiv Gandhi, for the courage "with which he had soldiered on despite the looming threat", NDTV reported.

"Two decades earlier, I had begged Rajiv not to enter politics, not to throw himself and all of us into that menacing world. Now, it was my son's turn, and this time I did not resist it. Rahul had foreseen his father's end; he had fought with him over it. Yet he carried within him a deep kinship with his father's values and respect for the courage with which he had soldiered on despite the looming threat," she wrote.

The senior Congress leader recalled that both Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had an "enduring relationship" with the Amethi constituency, the family's stronghold, in Uttar Pradesh.

She mentioned that Rajiv Gandhi had taken Rahul Gandhi to Amethi a number of times as a schoolboy, and later, to make him aware of the hard reality of rural life.

Regarding her daughter, Sonia Gandhi said that Priyanka Gandhi had been in Amethi through all of her elections, "endearing herself to party workers and people".

"But her priority was bringing up her young children and working on a postgraduate diploma in Buddhist studies. Rahul, whenever he came back to India, would accompany me or his sister to Amethi, and they were both familiar faces in the constituency. It was during those visits, when he finally returned to India, that Rahul found himself drawn into working there as a representative of the people," she wrote.

Further, she mentioned that the subject of Rahul Gandhi's MPhil in Cambridge was Development Studies, and he followed political events in India closely even while employed abroad.

"The party had been strongly urging him to take on an active role, which would mean for him a complete change of life; he would become a public figure, watched and judged at every step," wrote Sonia Gandhi, adding that he arrived at the decision after "discussions with Priyanka and me and some deep thinking on his part".

In March 2004, Rahul Gandhi had said he would contest from Amethi, with his mother moving to neighbouring Rae Bareli.

She proudly recalled that Rahul Gandhi had "won handsomely" in his first election, and "embarked enthusiastically on his new responsibility, bringing businesses and industries into rural Amethi, as Rajiv had done".

Priyanka, proving herself a "capable manager", started self-help groups (SHGs) in Amethi, encouraging women to support one another in becoming agents of change, wrote the veteran Congress leader.

"The groups had started small but were full of promise, and with Rahul's involvement, the Amethi SHG became the largest in northern India. He also set up a much-needed eye hospital, whose branches then spread to Lucknow and Haryana."