Strictly Personal, Manmohan & Gursharan: Daman Singh defends her father in new book

New Delhi, August 5: As the former prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh and the Congress top leadership are going through the phase where two books by their former loyalists have put them in an uncomfortable situation, Singh's daughter Daman Singh has attempted to calm down the growing clamour, by writing a new book.

The book- "Strictly Personal, Manmohan & Gursharan", penned down by Singh's daughter Daman Singh defends him on various issues.

In an exclusive interview to TOI, Daman Singh opened up on various questions and revealed some unknown and hidden facts, before her book release.

Daman has mentioned in her book that her father didn't believe in 2009 that Congress was going to win a second term, but he said it in a casual and light-hearted way.

"During 2005-09, he became PM under some unusual circumstances and he had to hit the ground running. It wasn't something he had been prepared for", she said.

On being asked whether politics suited his father or not, she said, "I don't think he is a misfit in politics but manipulative politics does not come to him easily. He's not a wheeler dealer. But he survived, didn't he? Against all odds, against all the doomsayers he survived. He's not a reluctant politician. He enjoys a challenge, he takes risks and does not play safe. In fact, my father is a risk taker."

Manipulative politics does not come to my father easily: Daman Singh

On being asked about Sanjay Baru and Natwar Singh's recent bombshell revelations, she said that she hasn't read either of the two books and "they are not the sort of books she normally reads."

She also said, "Work drives my father, he's a workaholic. Whether FM or RBI governor, he enjoyed all his posts. He had no regrets."

Besides, she has also mentioned about the relationship between Dr Manmohan Singh and another former prime minister Narasimha Rao, Rahul Gandhi's ordinance bill tearing episode, his equation with Late Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi's remarks on Planning Commission, his father's take on corruption and many more.

But she has steered clear from mentioning about Manmohan's relationship with the Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi and she also said that she doesn't consider herself as the best person to write about Manmohan Singh's days as the prime minister.

In-fact, she said that she would love it if he wrote that book himself about his years as PM.

OneIndia News