Kalam not saying truth about Sonia: Subramanian Swamy

Bangalore, Jul 1: Janata Party chief

claimed that former President of India, Dr Abdul Kalam has not said truth about

. Swamy urged Kalam to publish a letter which only can reveal the "real truth".

Kalam, in his memoir, mentioned that he was not against Sonia Gandhi to become the Prime Minister of India. During an interview with Firstpost, Swamy rejected to accept Kalam's version.

The truth will come out "if he (Kalam) published the letter he wrote to Sonia Gandhi at 3.30 pm on May 17, 2004," claimed Swamy.

According to the Janata Party leader, Kalam in that letter indicated Sonia that her claim for prime ministership might not be honoured citing her foreign origin.

In his soon to be published memoirs - Turning Points, A Journey Through Challenges, Kalam has written about the 'surprising' development on the evening of May 18, 2004.

In the memoir, Kalam claims that as the 11th president of the country, he was ready to swear in Congress chief Sonia Gandhi as the Prime Minister after the 2004 general elections but she proposed Manmohan Singh's name instead.

"At the allotted time, 8.15 pm, Mrs Gandhi came to Rashtrapati Bhavan along with Dr Manmohan Singh. In this meeting after exchanging pleasantries, she showed me the letters of support from various parties. Thereupon, I said that is welcome. The Rashtrapati Bhavan is ready for the swearing-in ceremony at the time of your choice. That is when she told me that she would like to nominate Dr Manmohan Singh, who was the architect of economic reforms in 1991 and a trusted lieutenant of the Congress party with an impeccable image, as the Prime Minister. This was definitely a surprise to me and the Rashtrapati Bhavan Secretariat had to rework the letter appointing Dr Manmohan Singh as the Prime Minister and inviting him to form the government at the earliest,' reads Kalam's memoir.

Kalam's version of events contradicts what Swamy has been saying about the matter. According to the latter, it was the former's reluctance to appoint Sonia as the PM that made her look at the Manmohan option.

To buttress his point, Swamy cited the letter in which he had warned Kalam that the appointment of Sonia could be challenged in the courts because of the lack of clarity over whether she had renounced her Italian citizenship.

However, in a tweet from his personal Twitter account, Swamy on Saturday, Jun 30 claimed, "When I return from Hong Kong tomorrow I will day after make a statement on Kalam's book."

Pursuing his argument, Swamy also tweeted, "Ask media to recycle MMS (Manmohan Singh) statement to TV and press on May 17th, reading out the last para of Kalam's 3.30 pm letter."

OneIndia News