Is it really sacrifice or there is more to it.

Read on to judge yourselves.

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Did Kalam’s poser have Sonia back off?


New Delhi, May 18: Speculation is rife about why Congress president Sonia Gandhi is reluctant to become Prime Minister of India. One source reported that Sonia changed her mind because the President may have raised objections to her rights as a naturalised citizen during their meeting at noon on Tuesday. After being elected the leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party, Sonia first expressed her reluctance on Monday night. She then relented and everybody thought the matter was settled. But the situation changed dramatically after she met President A P J Abdul Kalam at noon on Tuesday. Her sudden change of mind strengthened speculation that all did not go well in that meeting. The President is said to have informed her that according to Section 5 of the Citizenship Act of 1955, she has no right to assume the office of the Prime Minister of India and that he was seeking the advice of the Supreme Court on this issue. Section 5 of the Citizenship Act of 1955 says the rights and privileges allowed to foreigners who become citizens by application (not by birth) are conditional upon the rights and privileges granted to Indians in the country of the concerned person’s origin (in this case Italy). The President reportedly told Sonia that he had to ascertain the legal position in this matter as there was no confirmation that all the rights and privileges granted to persons of Italian origin are reciprocated by Italy in the case of Indians who become citizens of that country. Sonia is said to have decided not to take the risk after the President’s briefing. It should also be noted that the President, in his letter on Monday, invited her only to “discuss” assuming the post of Prime Minister, and not to assume office. Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy, who met the President earlier, reportedly argued that Sonia was not eligible to become Prime Minister as it contravened the provisions of the Citizenship Act. CPI-M Somnath Chatterjee said that her children, Priyanka and Rahul, objected to her taking up the post because they feared for her life. “Her children say they have lost their father and do not want to lose their mother. We cannot give any assurance. This is a violent country,” Chatterjee said. Others gave more credit to the agitation threats by K Govindacharya, Uma Bharti and Sushma Swaraj. Some also asked whether she was resorting to dramatics to extract rock-solid assurances from internal and external rivals. Sources also said she may have been apprehensive about her ability to face the onslaught of BJP stalwarts like Atal Behari Vajpayee and L K Advani in Parliament.
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Pramod Chopra
Senior Mortgage Consultant
Mortgage Alliance Company of Canada

Pramod's posting is from the Deccan Chronicle. The reciprocity issue was always going to be a factor in the selection of the PM. I am not sure now our well read netas still went ahead and made chose the leader.

Chopraji,

Here is the Press communique from Rashtrapati Bhawan, which answers ur concern.

Thanks,


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Kalam did not raise citizenship issue


The Rashtrapati Bhavan has denied that President A P J Abdul Kalam raised the issue of citizenship during his meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday.

"The matter was not discussed at all," S M Khan, the President's press secretary, told rediff.com

A leading daily had said that Kalam asked her about Article 5 of the Constitution, which refers to citizenship.

Bharatiya Janata Party leaders Sushma Swaraj and Govindacharaya, met the President and raised the issue of Gandhi's foreign origin, he said. "The President simply heard them out."

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Together, we shall make it happen !

Hi All,

Another shower of praise for Sonia - this time from Pakistan.

May 18 would be henceforth known as Political Sacrfice day in true sense.

Great happening !

Bye

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Pakistan salutes Sonia's refusal to prime ministership


There were kudos aplenty in Pakistan on Wednesday for India's Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and her decision not to become prime minister with papers leading with the story and experts comparing her to Mahatma Gandhi.

Most commentators eulogised Gandhi's decision saying it would go a long way in strengthening the political system in India.

"By doing so she has attained the status of Mother India and has strengthened the political system," said Hamid Rafiq, a political science professor.

He said after BJP's statement that they would boycott her oath-taking ceremony, there were suspicions that the former ruling party may create hurdles in the smooth functioning of the government because of Gandhi's foreign origin.

"She needs a big salute from the Indian people in particular and the world in general that she has done a great job towards democracy," said Rafiq.

Political commentator Islam Ansari said her decision had made her a stateswoman.

"I believe she has reached the status of Mahatma Gandhi by doing so," said Ansari, adding that after this no one could stop her son Rahul Gandhi from becoming a prime minister in the next elections after five years.

When asked if the decision would affect the ongoing peace process with Pakistan, foreign office spokesman Masood Khan briefly said: "Let's not hope so."

He, however, refused to comment on the situation saying it was Indian's internal matter.

The Urdu daily Nawa-e-Waqt in its top story said Gandhi's decision was in the right direction and history would remember her for her service to the people of India.

"Her decision comes as a surprise just as her party's win was a surprise for even herself," said the paper.

The largest Urdu daily, Jang, said Gandhi's decision had not only supported the democratic system but also dented the system of dynastic rule that prevailed in South Asian countries.

"This is not the first time that she has taken such a decision. After the death of her husband she had declined to accept any party position. Her role in politics need to commended," said the paper.

"Sonia's decline to accept the prime ministership puts India in crisis," Jang's top story read. It said Gandhi's decision would mean that the next Indian government would be weak and may not survive for long.

English language newspapers also gave the story top play.

"Sonia shocks India", read The Nation's lead headline.

The Dawn gave the story in seven columns along with Sonia's picture, quite unusual for the paper that normally follows a traditional layout.

The News also carried pictures of Sonia and Manmohan Singh, who are likely to be the Congress choice to head the coalition government.

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Together, we shall make it happen !

The whole media is showering praise for Sonia on her decision.

The following is the report from HT.

Read and enjoy.

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Indian media hails Sonia's renunciation of premier's post

Agence France-Presse

New Delhi, May 19

India's media on Wednesday hailed Italian-born Sonia Gandhi for her courage to ignore the anguished pleas of her Congress party leaders and turn down the post of prime minister.

Under headlines such as "Amazing Grace" and "Sonia's last temptation", national dailies splashed pictures of a pensive looking Gandhi sitting in a meeting of Congress party members on Tuesday when she made her dramatic announcement.

Newspaper editorials were unanimous in their praise of her.

"By choosing to 'humbly decline' to take up the prime minister's post, she has played a masterstroke," the Indian Express said.

"For one, it allows her to assume the high moral ground and signal that she was by no means enamoured of power for its own sake, but power for the principles she believes in.

"She has thus neatly disarmed her political opponents of the one weapon they had hoped to use against her," the paper said referring to threats by members of the outgoing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) administration to boycott Gandhi's inauguration.

BJP leader Sushma Swaraj had threatened to shave her head and dress in funereal white, according to Hindu customs, to protest "foreign born" Gandhi assuming the premiership.

"The BJP and those of its allies who supported this petty-minded campaign have emerged from the affair much diminished," the paper said.

The Hindu in an editorial said "enormous sympathy and respect" had been generated by Gandhi's decision to reject the post "after leading her party to a position of advantage that was least expected during the run-up to the general election."

"It was a hard-worked victory earned through a decent, issue-based campaign that refused to respond in kind to highly personalised attacks targeting, among other things, Gandhi's foreign origin and 'antecedents,'" it said.

"Gandhi's stunning act of self-denial and political renunciation cannot be allowed to be seen as an endorsement of the vicious campaign that the Sushma Swarajs" had been running, the paper said.

In another piece, the political editor of the Hindu, Harish Khare, praised Gandhi's rejection of premiership as "an act of great renunciation."

"... you have identified yourself firmly with this land's ancient tradition of renunciation ... you have proven wrong all those critics who saw you as a power-hungry person," wrote Khare, a self-professed critic of Gandhi.

"More than that you have restored the faith of people of this country in the nobility of politics and public service," he added.

The Hindustan Times said: "Rare is the Indian politician who turns away from power when it is offered to him or her on a platter.

"Sonia Gandhi is now the only person in Indian history to have turned down the post of prime minister not just once but twice," it said referring to her refusal after the assassination of her husband and prime minister Rajiv Gandhi by a suicide bomber in 1991.

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Quote:

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Orginally posted by Jashan

BJP leaders decision to oppose Congress President Sonia Gandhi becoming India's Prime Minister has been condemned as "outrageous and racist" by British Indian Muslims.

"BJP's outrageous and racist opposition of Sonia Gandhi as India's Prime Minister has shown to the world the ugly face of Hindutva forces," Council of Indian Muslims, UK, Munaf Zeena said on Tuesday night.

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Quote:

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Orginally posted by Jashan

There were kudos aplenty in Pakistan on Wednesday for India's Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and her decision not to become prime minister with papers leading with the story and experts comparing her to Mahatma Gandhi.

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