Natwar's account of frosty relations between Sonia and Narasimha Rao

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The frosty relationship between Sonia Gandhi and late Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao comes out in full view in Natwar Singh's autobiography which says Gandhi was "never fond of" Rao who wondered why she was so "hostile" to him.

"Sonia had made P V Narasimha Rao Prime Minister. But she wasn't very fond of him. I, too, had fallen out with him and joined the Tiwari Congress, but we later made up," Singh recalls in his just-released book "One Life Is Not Enough" published by Rupa.

Rao had sought the services of Singh, then a close Gandhi family friend, in December 1994 to repair his relation with Gandhi.

"In December, 1994, when my relations with him (Rao) had been repaired, he asked me to see him at his house, 5 Race Course Road. He seemed uncharacteristically agitated and restless.

"He said, 'I can take on Sonia Gandhi. But I do not want to do so. Some of her advisers have been filling her ears against me. I don't take them seriously. Sonia's case is different. Her attitude towards me is affecting my health. If she wants me to go, she only has to say so.

"I have done my best to meet all her desires and requirements promptly. You worked closely with her and must know and should know why Sonia is so hostile to me'," Singh writes in his book.