Who really ran Manmohan Singh's government? What his former adviser wrote about Sonia Gandhi

Former Congress President Sonia Gandhi, in her memoir 'Belonging: A Journey of Love', rejected the charge that she wielded real power during the UPA years. She writes that there was an "unspoken division of responsibility" between the prime minister and her, one that worked smoothly - "the government under Dr. Manmohan Singh, and the party under me".

After Congress scripted a surprise win in 2004, the expectation was that Sonia Gandhi would take over as the Prime Minister. However, she picked Manmohan Singh for the top job. Singh served as Prime Minister from 2004 to 2014. During those UPA years, there were reports that there were two power centres.

During the UPA years, reports frequently spoke of two centres of power within the government. However, Gandhi writes that a "rash of stories" was fed by people around the Prime Minister.

"A decade later, a book was published by one of his former aides, reaffirming the malicious and totally false allegations spread all along by my opponents: that I sent for files from the prime minister's office (PMO), interfered with administrative matters, and made key appointments," she says.

"Though I had been the subject of worse accusations over the years, the fabrication that distressed me most was that I was looking into official files, something improper for anyone outside the government. I had always been particular about adhering to rules, all the more so during this period," the former UPA chairperson writes.

Gandhi does not mention the book, but she was apparently referring to Sanjaya Baru's book, 'The Accidental Prime Minister', which came out in April 2014.

Must Read: Sonia Gandhi had finally said yes to PM post in 2004. Then Rahul Gandhi asked one question that changed the night

In his book, Baru, who served as media adviser to Manmohan Singh from May 2004 to August 2008, writes that "the PM never questioned Sonia's right, as party president, to influence portfolio allocations; though, over time, he became quite forthcoming in giving his opinions, and she did accept his advice."

The former media advisor, though, acknowledges that while he knew it was not realistic to argue that Dr Singh should have full control over ministerial appointments, he felt he (the PM) needed to assert himself at least in the allocation of portfolios to junior ministers.

"In 2005, for example, when he asked me whether I thought Jairam Ramesh should be inducted into government, I replied that Jairam ought to be more demonstrative of his loyalty to the PM if he wanted a berth in the ministry. I was taken aback when, a few days later, Montek took me aside at a Christmas party at journalist TN Ninan's house and asked me why I was opposing Jairam's induction. I clarified to Montek that I was not against it, and had only said to the PM that at least younger Congress MPs should feel they owed their ministerial berths to the PM rather than just to Sonia."

Baru writes that he was not aware of what transpired after that, but in the following month, January 2006, Jairam did get inducted as a minister of state in the commerce ministry. "I was not surprised to learn that Jairam later called on Sonia's friend Suman Dubey and thanked him for the job."

The media advisor further writes that ministerial positions are won not just on the basis of competence but also in recognition of a politician's political clout or loyalty to the leader. "For Congress MPs, the leader to please was always Sonia. They did not see loyalty to the PM as a political necessity, nor did Dr Singh seek loyalty in the way in which Sonia and her aides sought it. That Jairam's loyalty was only with Sonia became clearer within weeks of his becoming a minister when he chose to embarrass the PM by leaking a letter that Sonia had written to Dr Singh cautioning him against pursuing."

Read More: Sonia Gandhi reveals Pranab Mukherjee's PM ambition in memoir: 'Time for a change at the top'

'Whitener, last-minute changes in Cabinet'

Baru also writes, in detail, about the exchange between the PM and Sonia Gandhi. On a daily and regular basis, he writes, messages between Sonia and the PM were conveyed either by Ahmed Patel or Pulok Chatterjee.

Chatterjee served in the PMO during UPA-I, initially as joint secretary and later as secretary. Baru claims that Pulok was inducted into the Manmohan Singh PMO at the behest of Sonia Gandhi and "had regular, almost daily, meetings with Sonia at which he was said to brief her on the key policy issues of 
the day and seek her instructions on important files to be cleared by the PM."

While Pulok met Sonia regularly to brief her on policy issues and seek her guidance on key decisions, Ahmed Patel was the political link between Sonia and Dr Singh, according to Baru's book.

"Patel would visit South Block mainly to lobby with Pulok for the inclusion of names of Congress party members on the boards of public enterprises and nationalised banks. Patel also met the PM from time to time and these meetings were invariably held at 7 RCR. Any increase in the frequency of his visits was almost always a signal of an impending Cabinet reshuffle," the author writes.

According to Baru, Patel was the one who carried, to and fro, the list of names of people to be included or dropped from the council of ministers. "As Sonia's chosen courier, he acquired the power to influence decision-making in such matters till the very end."

The former PM advisor described one such event where a minister was dropped to accommodate a name that, in all likelihood, came from Sonia Gandhi.

On one occasion, he writes, Patel arrived at 7 RCR just minutes before the PM's letter to the President listing the names of MPs to be sworn in as ministers in a reshuffle was dispatched. "Since the letter had been typed and signed and was ready to be delivered, and the President was waiting to receive it, it was decided that instead of wasting time retyping the letter, the new name being canvassed by Patel would be typed over an existing name, with that name being painted over with whitener. Thus was Andhra MP Subbirami Reddy accommodated into the council of ministers in January 2006, after white paint had been applied over the name of Harish Rawat, an MP from Uttarakhand, who is now the chief minister of that state."

'Power was delegated, authority was not'

Baru also writes that the creation of the NAC (National Advisory Council) in June 2004 was "the first overt sign to him that Sonia's 'renunciation' of power was more of a political tactic than a response to a higher calling as she put it at the time."

Admittedly, he further states that Gandhi chose not to head the UPA government even after leading the Congress to electoral success in 2004. "But, while power was delegated, authority was not."

Baru then notes how she wanted to place his people in the PMO to exercise control. "Her decisions, early on, to try and appoint a principal secretary to the PM of her choosing - the retired Tamilian official who had worked with Rajiv but declined Sonia's invitation - and to place her trusted aide Pulok Chatterjee in the PMO, were aimed at ensuring a degree of control over government. Of course, she had a decisive say in the allocation of portfolios."

In the chapter titled 'Responsibility without Power', the former media advisor writes that no one in Dr Singh's council of ministers "seemed to feel that he owed his position, rank or portfolio to the PM."

"While his role in the formation of his original team was understandably marginal, he was increasingly consulted in subsequent reshuffles, but the final word was always that of the leaders of the parties constituting the coalition."

In the UPA, Baru adds, Congress party spokespersons let it be known to all concerned that Sonia Gandhi would remain the boss even though she was not the PM, despite her 'renunciation' of power.

According to Baru, in the case of UPA-1, the arrangement meant that credit for all the government's good work would go to Sonia, and all blame for any mistakes or failures would go to Dr Singh.

"Dr Singh never shied away from this political reality. When confronted with a difficult political demand from an ally, or from leaders of other political parties, he would confess to them that he did not have the last word on the matter, that he was an 'accidental prime minister' and that the buck stopped with Sonia."