The former army chiefsaid he related a ``little jingle'' to the prime minister, ``you mind your own business and I'll mind mine. You kiss your own sweetheart and I'll kiss mine. I don't interfere politically as long as nobody interferes with me in the army''.

Asked if that set her fears at rest, he replied ``that's right''. Manekshaw said it was after the 1971 conflict that Mrs Gandhi elevated him to the rank of Field Marshal but did not offer him the job of Chief of Defence Staff to go with it. But she did offer him the post of High Commissioner in the UK and the office of Maharashtra governor both of which he declined, he said. On his equation with Mrs Gandhi, he said ``well, she and I got on well. She trusted me and I trusted her. I never kept anything back from her and she never kept anything from me''. He also revealed that he had problems with then defence minister V K Krishna Menon. The minister, he said, even ordered a court of inquiry to get him removed. Manekshaw said he was exonerated by the court of inquirycomprising three generals but denied promotion for 18 months.

``Then the Chinese came to my help. Krishna Menon was sacked...,'' he added.