Pranab Mukherjee hinted at desire to become PM, ‘shocked’ me, writes Sonia Gandhi

Sonia Gandhi and Pranab Mukherjee. File | Photo Credit: PTI

Former President Pranab Mukherjee had “shocked” Sonia Gandhi by hinting at his “long-held desire” to become Prime Minister during a conversation with her in 2010, suggesting that perhaps it was time for a “change at the top”, the former Congress president has written in her memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love.

Also read | Sonia Gandhi’s memoir: How a love story grew into a deep belonging to India 

The book, published by HarperCollins, was made available in bookstores on Tuesday (November 10, 2026), but the official launch is likely to take place on November 16.

Mukherjee, then a senior member of the Manmohan Singh Cabinet, had developed serious differences with the then Finance Minister P. Chidambaram. He would sometimes stay back for conversations with Ms. Gandhi after meetings of the Congress Strategy Group, which was set up to discuss parliamentary business.

“On one occasion, in 2010, I think after expressing his frustration, he shocked me with the suggestion that perhaps it was time for a change at the top, which I understood as a hint of his long-held desire to become Prime Minister,” she wrote.