Kesri blessed Sonia with teary eyes as she touched his feet after taking over as Cong chief Memoir

New Delhi, Nov 10 (PTI) Soon after being elected as the Congress president in 1998, Sonia Gandhi drove directly from the Congress Working Committee meeting to her predecessor Sitaram Kesri's house and bent down to touch his feet; he gave his blessing, placing his hand on her head with teary eyes, according to her memoir.

    In her memoir 'Belonging: A Journey of Love', Gandhi recalled that after the defeat of the Congress under the then prime minister Narasimha Rao in 1996, there had been two changes of government until the BJP came to power in 1999 with an alliance of 20 parties.

    The new prime minister was A B Vajpayee, widely known as an astute politician and forceful debater and orator in his five decades in Parliament, she said.

    "The election results caused further churning in the party. The Congress Working Committee decided unanimously that a change of leadership was necessary. Congress president Sitaram Kesri was made to step down, and on March 14, 1998, I was elected president in his place," she said.

    "Kesri-ji, as I addressed him, had been an active Congressman for more than six decades: on an impulse, I drove directly from the meeting to his house, greeted him, and bent down to touch his feet, as one does as a mark of respect to elders. He was taken aback by my unexpected appearance but gave me his blessing, placing his hand on my head with tears in his eyes," Gandhi said.

    At the 24, Akbar Road headquarters, Kesri was removed as party president by the Congress Working Committee in dramatic circumstances to pave the way for Sonia Gandhi to take over the reins of the organisation in March 1998.

    Kesri, who hailed from Bihar, served as the Congress president from 1996 to 1998. He died in 2000.

    Published by HarperCollins, Sonia Gandhi's memoir hit the shelves on Tuesday.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)