• RITU SARIN: Can you throw some light on the functioning of the coalition?

The UPA Coordination Committee meets every week or once a fortnight under Mrs Sonia Gandhi. One meeting is held every week with members of the constituent parties of the coalition. I meet the UPA partners every alternate day and the Left once a week.

• D.K. SINGH: You are perhaps the only person who has worked with Indira Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi so closely. How different are the two in their working style?

One striking feature of Mrs Sonia Gandhi is that unlike most Indian politicians, she speaks little and does not give false hopes. She is precise, she does not comment until it is necessary.

• SUBHOMOY BHATTACHARYA: Are you comfortable with the experiment of the Prime Minister not being the leader of the party?

The prime minister is supposed to lead the cabinet and the government. The Congress president gets to look after other political issues. It is a good arrangement. If you consider the history of the Congress, you will note that often the Congress president was not the prime minister.

• D.K. SINGH: You have worked so closely with Dr Manmohan Singh. How has your relationship been with him and how has he grown from working under you to now?

He was never working under me. Even when I was finance minsiter, he was the RBI governor. He has also been the chief economic adviser. I must say I have a great personal equation with him. Whenever he was not sure of parliamentary tactics, as he would call it, as Leader of the Opposition, he would always turn to me. He was extremely courteous and has matured as a political leader. When the finance bill was not being discussed on the floor and the NDA brought their observations to the prime minister’s chamber, he was extremely upset but still courteous. They went and made a hue and cry about it, saying the PM was rude. Ghulam Nabi Azad made a joke then. He said that if they had said Pranab Mukherjee was rude to them, people would more than willingly believed them,. But not about Dr Manmohan Singh.

... contd.