I don't call the shots: Sonia

Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Friday dismissed the Opposition's charge that she was the "power behind the throne" in the Manmohan Singh government. She said similar insinuations were hurled at her when Rajiv Gandhi was prime minister.

"I am not the power behind the throne. I do not wish to be the power behind the throne," Gandhi said, replying to questions at the Hindustan Times Leadership Initiative here.

She said such suggestions were "not something that has happened just now. When Rajiv Gandhi was the prime minister, I was supposed to have sacked ministers, brought new ones..."

Gandhi, who is also the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson, said she "does not look at government files or take government decisions".

The Congress president, who was the keynote speaker at the meet, started her speech saying she was "ready to bet that none of you expected me last year to take part in this year's conference as part of the establishment".

Replying to a question, she allayed apprehensions about the stability of the UPA coalition in the backdrop of the Left's criticism on several issues. "There is no need to worry at all", she said.

"I think the business community does not need to worry. No worry at all," Gandhi said in answer to a delegate's query about the stability of the coalition.

"We are coalition partners. They are valued allies. We work on the basis of the Common Minimum Programme (arrived at) after consultations with all concerned," she said.

On criticism from the Left from time to time, she said it was the "right" of all coalition partners to express their feelings and to make their points.

Noting that there were "bound to be hiccups" as the Congress was sharing power at the Centre for the first time, she said, "We sit down in a civilised fashion and come to certain understanding and agreement.

This is a new experiment and experience at the Centre."

She said "we will continue to work together," and added that what had been witnessed during the erstwhile National Democratic Alliance coalition was a "tamasha".

At that time interlocutors were sent to the south and to the Northeast to placate one coalition partner or the other, she said, adding that against such a background "we have not done badly".

The UPA chairperson said party leaders do meet the prime minister on a weekly basis to discuss a variety of issues.

"I would never allow him (the prime minister) to come and see me and I will always go there," she said, when asked whether she asked Singh to meet her or she herself went to meet him.

On a question concerning the re-election of George Bush as the US President, Gandhi congratulated him for the victory and said, "We would like him to have concern for our security." She said India had good relations with the US and "we will maintain and sustain it".

Replying to a question from a Pakistan's MP on Rahul and Priyanka, she indicated that she had no immediate plans to induct Rahul into the organisation.

"At the moment, Priyanka, wife and mother of two kids, is concentrating on her family and is not interested in participating actively in politics," she added.

She said Rahul had to gain more experience looking after his constituency and organisation but made it clear that he was unlikely to be given any responsibility in the proposed reshuffle of the organisation in Uttar Pradesh.

Asked whether it was right to assume that she was the "rising star" on the nation's political scene, Gandhi replied, "I would not want to be a star and I would like to be just me."