Click to play videoNew Delhi: Senior Congress leader and Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh's outburst against the party, its decision making process and how its leaders evaluate loyalty indicates that the crictism in his biography is more directed at Rahul Gandhi.
In the biography titled Mohe Kahan Vishraam (No Time to Rest), Arjun says, "In the past there were many more occasions to express ones’ views and now since people do not feel part of that process, there are no qualms in disobeying the diktats.”
Accused of being anti-Sonia, Arjun took on his critics at the book release function. "Loyalty is now measured in limited terms," he said, adding, "Nehru-Gandhi family is aware who are really loyal and who pretend to be.”
So are the old-timers taking offence to the changes being introduced by Rahul Gandhi?
The loyalist-turned critic has questioned the democratic process, recalled his discomfort with the Emergency and has spoken out against sycophants who pretend to be loyalists.
Arjun has apparently been upset ever since Rahul Gandhi wanted him out of Shastri Bhavan.
CNN-IBN's Chief Political Correspondent Pallavi Ghosh says the Congress has rubbished Arjun Singh's views.
"Barring the PM no one else from the Congress party was present at the book launch and even he did no speak. Arjun says indiscipline is increasing in the party and leaders are not consulted but Congress has said that it is not true. The party says Sonia Gandhi not only consults her colleagues but also the allies on important issues. The party has distanced itself from Arjun Singh. The power center is shifting from 10 Janpath (residence of Sonia Gandhi) to 12 Tuglak Lane (residence of Rahul Gandhi). Rahul Gandhi has clearly emerged as the new power center in the party and he has his ideas and his own group in the party," Ghosh explains.
Senior Congress leader RK Dhawan says it is unfortunate that Arjun Singh is raking up the Emergency issue now.
"It's unfortunate that he is raking up the issue after 33 years. When emergency was declared Arjun Singh was not a minister. PC Sethi was the Chief Minister and he was not in his Cabinet. How he is trying to link the two is not clear?" asks Dhawan.
In the biography Arjun Singh has expressed concern over "fragmentation" in the decision making process.
"In the past, there were many more occasions to express one’s views during this process and now since people do not feel part of that process, there are no qualms in disobeying the diktats," he says in the book.
The book’s author Kanhaiya Lal Nandan, however, says Arjun Singh has been misunderstood. Further clarifying, Nandan says that the agency, which carried the story, did not make the correct translation of his interview in Hindi.
"He has not ‘lamented’ about anything," says Nandan.
The biography was released on Friday with both President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in attendance.
However, now both the Congress and Rashtrapati Bhavan are distancing themselves from the controversial book.
Within hours after the book launch, the President’s office issued a clarification, saying, "The factual position is that the book was released by the Speaker and a copy was presented to the President.”
Considered a Gandhi family loyalist, Arjun has been sidelined of late in party affairs.
Recently, he tried to annoint Rahul Gandhi as the future PM but was snubbed by the party high command. Yet, he managed to survive.
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