It was my firm conviction as soon as I received the news of the tragedy (Indira Gandhi's assassination) that the most feasible arrangement would be to have Rajiv sworn in immediately as prime minister without going in for an interim prime minister. I held hurried consultations with Shivshankar and B. Shankaranand, senior ministers in Indira Gandhi's cabinet, who had rushed to AIIMS. They both expressed their strongly held view that Pranab Mukherjee should not be sworn in as interim prime minister, although he was high up in the hierarchy. Indira Gandhi had not formally nominated anyone as second in command in her cabinet though, informally, Mukherjee occupied such a position. By then chief ministers from the Congress-ruled states had arrived at the institute and were standing together on the eighth floor in one section of the verandah. I knew that a final decision on the succession issue could be taken only by Rajiv who was already on his way to Delhi from Calcutta. However, I thought it would be prudent to quickly ascertain the views of the chief ministers, the ministers and other senior members of the party present there on the question of succession. I sought the opinions of N.D. Tewari (chief minister of Uttar Pradesh), Janaki Ballabh Patnaik (chief minister of Orissa), Bhajan Lal (chief minister of Haryana) and Shiv Charan Mathur (chief minister of Rajasthan) ... I found that everyone was in agreement with the suggestion that Rajiv should be administered the oath forthwith. (I was convinced that an interim arrangement with Pranab Mukherjee as prime minister, even for a brief period, would not be acceptable to any senior Congress leader present at the institute). Within a few minutes Narasimha Rao reached the eighth floor. We embraced each other, without being able to control our tears. I told him quickly that there was unanimity among all the chief ministers and the ministers present at the institute that Rajiv should be sworn in directly as PM and he fully endorsed the proposal.

PICTURE SPEAK
THE LOYALIST: Indira Gandhi's faith in Alexander was total and implicit	AT THE SON'S SERVICE: Alexander remained Rajiv's point man too

Rajiv arrived at 3.15 p.m. along with Pranab Mukherjee and Arun Nehru (one of Rajiv's cousins). After greeting us with folded hands, Rajiv quickly went inside the room adjacent to the operation theatre, where his wife Sonia Gandhi had been standing near the wall and sobbing. His face was filled with anguish, but he was trying to be calm and composed without being overly emotional.

I quickly told Pranab Mukherjee that everyone had agreed that Rajiv should be administered the oath of office as PM without going in for an interim arrangement. Without any hesitation, Pranab Mukherjee gave his assent to this suggestion. A group of individuals, with malicious intent, later spread a canard that Pranab Mukherjee had staked his claim to be sworn in as interim PM and had to be persuaded with great difficulty to withdraw his claim. The obvious objective was to create discord between Rajiv Gandhi and Pranab Mukherjee. But I should record here the true fact that Pranab Mukherjee had readily endorsed the suggestion I made to him ...

Arun Nehru took me aside and told me in a very serious tone that Rajiv should be sworn in immediately by the vice-president without waiting for the president's arrival ... They were of the view that President Zail Singh could not be trusted to accept Rajiv's nomination without a formal election by the Congress Parliamentary Party. They were genuinely apprehensive that because of the recent deterioration in the relations between Zail Singh and Indira Gandhi, he might use his position to prevent Rajiv from becoming prime minister and may administer the oath to Pranab Mukherjee as interim prime minister Such a development could lead to serious difficulties as far as Rajiv's election later was concerned ...

However, I was quite convinced that it would be ethically very wrong and politically very unwise if the president were made to feel that he had been deliberately denied the exercise of his most important responsibility, namely, choosing the prime minister and administering the oath of office to him. I was seriously worried that if Rajiv were administered the oath by the vice-president, Zail Singh would view this step as a challenge to his authority and may even take the extreme step of not recognizing the oath administered by the vice-president...

I was also quite conscious of the fact that I had no official standing or authority to enforce my own views on the late prime minister's senior colleagues in her party. Whenever I had done so in the past, I did so with the confidence that I had the backing of the prime minister, but, theoretically, I had ceased to be principal secretary the minute Indira Gandhi was no more ... No one at that time questioned my authority to press on with this line of action because the individuals present there always had great regard for me and trusted my sincerity ... However, Arun Nehru, supported by a few like-minded individuals, was quite firm in his stand that no risk could be taken in this matter. He asked me, in a very defiant tone, as to who would accept the responsibility for the consequences if Zail Singh refused to administer the oath to Rajiv. My immediate response was that the person who was the most concerned about, and who would be most affected by this decision was Rajiv and, first of all, his own wishes in the matter ought to be ascertained. Arun Nehru declared that he would go into the room where Rajiv was standing with Sonia and talk to him, but I pre-empted him and I quickly went inside the room.

What I saw on entering the room was Rajiv clasping Sonia with both hands and earnestly conveying to her the message that he considered it his duty to take on the responsibility as prime minister. Sonia was holding him tightly and tears were rolling down her cheeks. She was pleading with him not to yield to the forceful request of his party colleagues to accept the top post ... I went near the couple and gently touched Rajiv on the back of his shoulder to indicate that I had some very urgent work with him ...

I briefly informed him that the proposal of Arun Nehru and most of his senior partymen present there was to have him sworn in as prime minister by the vice-president without waiting for the arrival of the president, as they were concerned that Zail Singh might not agree to administer the oath to him without being first elected as leader by the CPP. Moreover, he may insist on appointing Pranab Mukherjee as interim prime minister, which could cause complications later. I then explained all the reasons why I personally felt that the correct and even prudent course would be to wait till the president arrived and asked him (Rajiv) for his own wishes on this matter. Rajiv listened to me patiently and, much to my relief, told me that he fully agreed with my views and that the risk, if any, was worth taking. He said he would talk to Arun Nehru later, but that I, for my part, should go ahead with making the necessary arrangements for the swearing in by the president, presuming that he would agree with the proposal. I ... conveyed Rajiv's decision to everyone present on the eighth floor. Nobody raised any objection after that.

(From Through the Corridors of Power: An Insider's Story by P.C. Alexander, published by HarperCollins. (c) P.C. Alexander 2004