Manmohan rebuts Natwar charges; Sonia to write her own memoirs

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today denied that any files were sent from the Prime Minister's Office to Congress president Sonia Gandhi's office as claimed by former party leader and union minister Natwar Singh in his new book.

Manmohan also told the media that "private conversations should not be misused for capital gains", hinting that the estranged former Congress loyalist was seeking cheap publicity.

Meanwhile, Congress president Sonia Gandhi said she would write her own memoirs, which would refute Natwar's allegations that government files were routinely passed through her.

Natwar Singh, a former minister in the UPA government, alleged in a TV interview ahead of the release of his book that Sonia Gandhi's decision not to take up the post of prime minister in 2004 was not because of an "inner voice" but because her son Rahul Gandhi feared that she would be assassinated.

Natwar Singh, 83, had to resign from the Congress-led coalition government in 2005 after allegations of corruption in the Iraqi oil-for-food scam.