Sonia Gandhi's political secretary Ahmed Patel speaks to NDTV
A top aide of
Sonia Gandhi has strongly rebutted claims in a recent book that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh surrendered authority to the Congress president and she had the final say on major policy decisions.
Ahmed Patel, Sonia Gandhi's political secretary and a key strategist of the Congress party, said he was "ready to resign if it can be proved that files were cleared by Mrs Gandhi." (
Watch)
Sanjaya Baru, former media advisor to the Prime Minister, has said in his memoirs - 'The Accidental PM: the making and unmaking of Manmohan Singh' - that he was "defanged" in his second term. (
Read: Row over book by PM's former media advisor Sanjaya Baru)
Mr Baru writes that Pulok Chatterjee, the Principal Secretary in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), had regular meetings with Mrs Gandhi, and sought her instructions on important files to be signed by the PM. He also claims Mrs Gandhi decided key appointments to the Cabinet and to the PMO. (
Sanjaya Baru's book completely baseless and mischievous: Prime Minister's Office)
"I am a member of the Congress core group, I'm witness to what happened," Ahmed Patel told NDTV in an exclusive interview from Bharuch in Gujarat. "If any Minister can say any file was going to Mrs Gandhi, or through Mrs Gandhi, I will resign."
But he did admit that "sometimes on policy level matters, there is a Congress ideology, when a government takes a decision, party will have its say." (
India Votes 2014: Full coverage)
Mr Patel also dismissed claims that Pulok Chatterjee was Sonia Gandhi's appointee in the PM's office. "The PM may have chosen him on merit, after seeing Pulok work with Mrs Gandhi," he said, adding, "Mrs Gandhi may have met Mr Chatterjee but at social functions, but not to clear files."
The book has been seized by the BJP as proof of the PM's authority being undermined by the Congress, and weak leadership that allowed rampant corruption in the government. (
Narendra Modi uses Sanjaya Baru book to target Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi)
Mr Patel hit back at the BJP, saying, "Why don't you see how the (BJP-led) NDA government functioned, they had the RSS as an extra-constitutional authority?" The RSS or Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, is the ideological mentor of the BJP.