Rahul Gandhi behind Sonia's refusal of PM post in 2004: Mani Shankar Aiyar

New Delhi, August 4: As the Congress top leadership is yet to recover from the bombshell revelations exposed by the former party loyalist Natwar Singh, in his autobiography, another party's senior leader Mani Shankar Aiyar on Sunday said that Rahul Gandhi was behind Sonia's refusal of PM post in 2004.

As per a report published in TOI, Aiyar, in an interview to a news channel said that "Rahul prevented his mother from accepting the top job for the fear that she would be killed."

Aiyar also didn't find anything "odd" about Rahul's fears about his mother's security.

Aiyar also recounted how the former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi told him that India was on the point of going to war with Pakistan without the PM's knowledge.

Aiyar also revealed he gave Rajiv Gandhi advice on how to recover lost ground and make up relations with Gen Zia-ul-Haq and Pakistan and after his advice, Rajiv invited Zia for lunch in Delhi.

At the same time, Aiya also stated, "I am hardly likely to be asked to defend Congress. I am speaking in my individual capacity."

Aiyar also agreed with Natwar's remarks that Operation Brasstacks, the extensive military exercises, were carried out close to Pakistan border by the Indian Army in 1986 and 1987 without the knowledge of Gandhi.

A Gandhi family loyalist, Aiyar, however, did not find any fault with Rajiv Gandhi over this saying that the then Prime Minister, who was also that time holding the portfolio of Defence Ministry, was aware of Operation Brassstacks being done as an internal defence mechanism but became "a victim of betryal" later the way in which it was carried out provoking "totally unnecessary tension".

OneIndia News