New Delhi: The Janata Dal (United) on Saturday dismissed as "not so relevant today" the remark made by former President APJ Abdul Kalam in his book that he was ready to swear in Sonia Gandhi as the Prime Minister after the 2004 polls had she wanted so.
"Had he (Kalam) spoken this in 2004, it would have carried a different level of moral force. The remarks do not carry that kind of moral force now as his revelation came eight years after the event had played out. The relevance it had at that time does not exist today," JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav said.
Yadav, who is also National Democratic Alliance (NDA) convenor, said it would have been better for the country had Kalam spoken about these things at that time. "Rumours flied thick and fast over the issue at that time even as the country has a tradition of treating the entire world as one family," he said.
JD(U) leaders, speaking on the condition of anonimity, wondered why Kalam had hid these things for so long while a fierce debate was going on in the country on the issue and an individual (Sonia Gandhi) was being targeted.
In a forthright account of his five-year tenure as President in a forthcoming book titled "Turning Points: A Journey Through Challenges", Kalam recalls that had Gandhi staked a claim herself he would have appointed her as it was the only "Constitutionally tenable" option available to him.
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