Kalam was an unconventional President: Jaitley

IN 2004, the then President APJ Abdul Kalam took a long time to be convinced that the country could have a council of Union ministers even after the Parliament was dissolved and an election had been announced.

“The President had a fundamental question. How could the councilofministersremainwhen therewasnoparliament?afterall, he said, the ministers were supposed to be answerable to Parliament,” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, one of the two peopletaskedwithconvincingkalam then, said Wednesday. The other person was then Attorney General, Soli Sorabjee. The two took turns to explain legalities, past precedentsandtheconstitutional provisions to Kalam who finally signed on the dotted line after hours of meetings, he said. In 2004, then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee had dissolved Parliament to advance the general election by about six months.

Speaking at the release of “Dr APJ Abdul Kalam: The People’s President”,pennedbythepresident’s press secretary S M Khan, Jaitleysaid:“weexplainedthatindira Gandhi had done it in the early70sandthatthereweresupreme Court pronouncements on thematter.itwasthenthathewas convinced. He was an unconventional President.” Vice President Hamid Ansari released the book.

Similarly, Jaitley said Kalam would also send back files to the Supreme Court’s Collegium when “people were not measuring up in judicial appointments”. “Dr Kalam had a mind of his own,” he said.

“Before he became President, I was again tasked with the job of explaining certain political matters to him because he was new. I wenttohishouseandexplaineda lotofthings.soonirealisedhewas notlistening.instead,hekeptasking me about the ocean and the hemisphere. He was unconventional that way,” Jaitley said.

Anil Sharma Khan, Jaitley and Ansari at the book release.