With her autobiography, Courage and Commitment, Veteran Congress leader Margaret Alva makes some startling revelations in it which includes the tense relationship between Sonia Gandhi and Narasimha Rao in her new book. She said, "I had great respect for him, although I, like the others, was greatly upset with him on the way he had handled the Babri Masjid and some other issues. But the point is, whatever may have been wrong, he was a Prime Minister, a Chief Minister, a Congressman; he made his contribution. In death, one needs to respect the individual,whatever your differences, and I did feel strongly that he had been wronged".

She says that the decision by then Narasimha Rao government to appeal against a Delhi High court order quashing the Bofors case linking Rajiv Gandhi had deepened Sonia Gandhi's suspicion over Rao, escalating friction between the two. Alva said following the decision, she was asked by a furious Sonia whether Rao wanted to send her to jail. She said she was hurt at the way Rao was treated in his death, "His body was even not let into the AICC compound. Gun carriage was parked on the pavement outside the gate. whatever the differences were, he was the PM, he had been Congress president, he was Chief Minister, he was party general secretary. When a man is dead you do not treat him that way," adding, "This is not the way to treat a dead leader."