"Won't It Amount To Betrayal Of Rajiv?" Sonia Gandhi On DMK Alliance Dilemma

With the 2004 Lok Sabha polls approaching, Sonia Gandhi went about forging alliances.

She reached out to Sharad Pawar, who had left the Congress five earlier earlier, the left parties - CPI, CPI(M), Forward Bloc, others - "calling on every possible ally" she could to defeat the BJP.Writing in her memoir 'Belonging: A Journey Of Love', Gandhi opened up about the intense moral and emotional conflict she faced when the Congress party considered an alliance with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in the years following Rajiv Gandhi's assassination.Recalling the political landscape of the early 2000s, Gandhi notes that the moment appeared right for opposition forces to unite against the BJP-led government.

Yet the idea of partnering with the DMK filled her with deep unease, she says."For me the most challenging personal assignment was to bring into alliance the DMK, whose leader M Karunanidhi was said to be unhappy with the BJP government.