Sonia and Rao had strained relations: says Cong minister

New Delhi, Feb 16:

and late Prime Minister P V

had strained relations when he was the Prime Minister as she was unhappy over the slow pace of progress in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination probe, says a book written by a union minister.

And when Gandhi chose to go public with her unhappiness over the probe in August 1995, it was a build up to what she would choose two years later to enter active politics, says Union Food Minister K V Thomas in his book 'Sonia--The Beloved Of The Masses'.

The fact that Gandhi and Rao did not share an easy relationship was also confirmed by former minister Natwar Singh, who recollects how Rao called him one night in May, 1995 to say how he was been "insulted" by her.

Gandhi, Rao did not share an easy relationship was confirmed by former minister

Referring to a speech made by Sonia Gandhi on August 20, 1995 on the birth anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi, Thomas says in his book that her words had pained the entire nation.

"That was why Sonia, who was not close to Rao, pointed an accusing finger at the government. Aggrieved about the inordinate delay in the Rajiv's assassination probe, she asked if the investigation related to the killing of a former prime minister was to take so much time, what would be the fate of ordinary citizens who fights for justice?"

Thomas says it could not be construed in a simplistic way as a statement against the slow pace of the process of meting out justice. "When Congress was in power, a broadside from Sonia was indeed a censure of Narasimha Rao," he writes.

PTI