NEW DELHI: In May 2004, when Congress emerged as the single largest party after the Lok Sabha polls and earned the invite to form the government,

refused to be Prime Minister and passed on the baton to

.

However, even as Singh held the top office, many strongly believed that it was Sonia who served as the de facto PM and controlled the day-to-day functioning of the government.

has now found irrefutable proof of her involvement in matters of governance, and how her views were writ for the government and took precedence over the stance of Manmohan Singh’s PMO.

Tarun Tejpal, editor of ‘

’ magazine who was being probed by Phukan Commission under the Vajpayee government for carrying out a “ sting” on BJP leaders purportedly accepting bribes from “arms dealers”, wrote to PM Manmohan Singh within a month of his swearing-in on June 2004 seeking relief from “victimisation” by central agencies like the ED and stock market regulator Sebi.

After his plea for help went unanswered for four months, Tejpal and other proprietors of Tehelka wrote to the Congress chief on September 20, 2004, narrating the same tale of victimisation to her.

Within five days, on September 25, 2004, Sonia wrote on her official letterhead as chairperson, National Advisory Council, the all-powerful body that was seen by many as the parallel government, to the then finance minister P Chidambaram, forwarding the Tehelka request with the insistence that he address it swiftly. “I would like you to look at these issues on priority.”

Shankar Sharma and Devina Mehra of First Global, who were probed along with Tejpal to see whether the Tehelka “ sting” was part of a conspiracy to destablise Vajpayee-led BJP government and create upheaval in markets, also wrote to Sonia against income tax and other agencies who continued the investigation even after the change of regime in Delhi.

Sonia’s letter was indeed treated on priority down the bureaucratic chain with officials marking the matter as “urgent”. An official wrote “please speak, connect ED-CBDT”, reflecting the keenesss of the entire officialdom to heed Sonia’s directive. “Please obtain file from ED-CBDT and pull up,” wrote yet another official, bringing out the anxiety in the government which led to the Phukan Commission being scrapped within four days.