'Was unhappy...': Daughter reveals Pranab Mukherjee's opinion of Rahul Gandhi

Sharmistha Mukherjee, the daughter of late former President and Congress veteran Pranab Mukherjee, said her father was upset about the way party leader Rahul Gandhi trashed an ordinance that was brought in by the then UPA government in 2013 to save convicted leaders like RJD supremo Lalu Yadav from disqualification.

In an exclusive interview with India Today, Sharmistha Mukherjee, a Congress spokesperson, spoke about her upcoming book, 'In Pranab, My Father: A Daughter Remembers', which details her father's anecdotes and some personal stories narrated to her.

She said her father said Rahul Gandhi's utterances were "politically immature". "He (Pranab Mukherjee) felt he was perhaps losing the battle of perception," the Congress leader said.

Pranab Mukherjee was also unhappy about Rahul Gandhi's frequent absence from Parliament after the party's dismal performance in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Sharmistha Mukherjee said.

She said her father told a journalist in an interview that he did not have any expectations from Sonia Gandhi to make him the Prime Minister.

"In 2004, after Sonia Gandhi renounced her claim (of being the Prime Minister), there was media speculation about who would be the Prime Minister. The names of my father and Manmohan Singh were doing the rounds. I asked him excitedly if he would be the Prime Minister. But he said no and that Manmohan Singh would be the Prime Minister," she said.

Sharmistha Mukherjee said her father mentioned in his diary an incident when Rahul Gandhi said in a Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting that he was not in favour of a coalition government, just before the 2009 general election was held.

"Baba (Pranab Mukherjee) said he (Rahul Gandhi) should put his thoughts coherently. Rahul Gandhi said he would meet him," he said, adding that there was not much interaction between both leaders during the UPA regime from 2004 to 2014.

Sharmistha Mukherjee said she recalled an incident where her father took a sarcastic dig at Rahul Gandhi over his prime ministerial ambitions.

"Rahul Gandhi came to see baba while he was walking in the Mughal Gardens in the morning. He disliked being disturbed while walking or doing puja. But still, he met him. Later, I came to know that Rahul Gandhi was supposed to meet him in the evening," she said.

"When I told baba about this, he was not amused. He sarcastically said if Rahul Gandhi's office cannot differentiate between am and pm, how can he become the Prime Minister?" she added.