Former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi told his wife Sonia that he had committed a "blunder" by sacking then foreign secretary AP Venkateswaran at a press conference in 1987, and wished he had not opened his mouth.
Congress leader Sonia Gandhi has recounted the incident in her recently released memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love, while discussing Rajiv's temper.
"There were occasional embarrassing instances, such as his public sacking of a senior official. He was furious to learn that his foreign secretary had breached protocol and exceeded his brief during a visit to Pakistan. When a question was asked about it at a press conference, Rajiv said abruptly, 'You'll soon be talking to a new foreign secretary'," she recalls.
"This blunt dismissal of the official, who was present, caused a furore, and for days Rajiv was under attack for behaving arrogantly and insensitively," she says.
Sonia Gandhi says she regularly read newspapers and would become upset whenever she came across adverse comments or editorials about Rajiv or his government.
"Often he would explain that the published report was distorted different from what had really happened. On this occasion, when I questioned him, he said, 'I knew the moment I'd spoken that I'd made a blunder. I wish I hadn't opened my mouth!'"
Gandhi also discusses Rajiv's temper in the book.
"For all his geniality of nature, Rajiv would at times lose his temper as his mother would exclaim, 'Just like his father!' which made me want to add, sotto voce, 'Just like his mother too!' He was a perfectionist in punctuality, in neatness, the way he kept his surroundings tidy, the way he dressed, whether in a kurta-pyjama or his bandhgala suit or simply his jeans and shirt. He was impatient with sloppiness, the 'sab chalta hai' (anything goes) attitude," she writes.
When Rajiv noticed a jumble of wires and cables disfiguring the historic South Block building as he walked into his office, he ensured that the damage was rectified. He even dropped in after work to check that the repairs were being carried out professionally, Sonia Gandhi recounts.
Vincent George, his long-serving personal assistant, who was often rebuked for slips and errors that were sometimes caused by others, told her after Rajiv's death how much he missed 'Sahab's scoldings', she says.
"In one instance the car in a security convoy broke down, causing the whole convoy to come to a stop on a hilly path. Hours were lost waiting for an alternate vehicle. Having been a trained pilot with a respect for systems and maintenance, Rajiv was furious: He pulled out the car keys of the person in charge of the tour and demanded an answer to why the car had not been serviced before its journey," Sonia Gandhi recalls.
"On such occasions I'd feel sorry for those at the receiving end, even though Rajiv had good reason to be annoyed. Later, when he had cooled down, I would make it a point to tell him what I felt; that his overreaction was simply 'not on' -- to which he'd respond with a sheepish smile," she says.
(With inputs from PTI)