I didn’t want to be Prime Minister: Sonia in LS

New Delhi, Feb 13 (IANS) UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday said that she did not want to be the Prime Minister.

She made the one-line intervention in the Lok Sabha when former Prime Minister and JD(S) member H.D. Deve Gowda said that she could have become Prime Minister during the UPA term between 2004 and 2014.

Making his valedictory speech in the 16th Lok Sabha, Gowda said he has watched Sonia Gandhi's performance.

"Some people are debating her citizenship. In the last 30 years, this was not an issue. But some people have raised the issue that on one occasion she was unable to become the Prime Minister," he said.

Gandhi interjected: "I did not want to (be Prime Minister)."

Gowda said: "In a way, you decided not to become Prime Minister, but I remember an incident when Vajpayee sat on a day-long 'Prayashchit Satyagrah' near the Rashtrapati Bhavan."

"On that occasion, I had said in Bhopal that 'Vajpayee is a great man but why should he hold a satyagraha for a day?' Then the press people had asked me, 'are you asking for his resignation?'

"I told then, why not? Then they asked who will be the next Prime Minister? Why not Madam Sonia Gandhi who was the Leader of Opposition? What is the citizenship issue? I myself raised the issue in Bhopal. That is what I am saying."

Gandhi then acknowledged Gowda's clarification.