Arjun backs off, pledges loyalty to Gandhis

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New Delhi: Union Human Resource Minister and senior Congress leader Arjun Singh has backtracked from his criticism of Congress' decision-making style and reiterated his loyalty to the Nehru-Gandhi family.

Under fire for questioning the Congress high command in his biography Mohe Kahan Vishraam (No Time to Rest), Arjun Singh has come out with a clarification.

"I shall remain loyal to the entire Nehru-Gandhi family till I die. Mohe Kahan Vishraam is not my autobiography. I am still writing my autobiography," he has been quoted as saying in a press release on Sunday.

He has also stated that what happened in the past is now a closed chapter for him.

He has been also been criticised for suggesting that Rahul Gandhi should be the next prime ministerial candidate of the Congress.

The latest comments from him have drawn sharp responses from Congress leaders.

CNN-IBN's Political Correspondent Sumit Pande says Arjun Singh released a one-page statement and tried to put all the controversies behind him.

"He says he shall 'remain loyal to the remaining members of the Nehru-Gandhi family'. The word remaining is important, as according to some reports when he spoke about the Nehru-Gandhi family in his book, he had spoken only about Indira Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi. He is trying to clarify that point. The second point that he is trying to clarify is that the book is not his autobiography. But the extracts are a part of the interview that he had given to the writer of the book (Kanhaiya Lal Nandan), which he has now clarified. Overall in the last two-three days after whatever has happened, he has got the message," Pande explains.

Pande also says there is no similarity between Arjun Singh and Akhilesh Das, the UP leader who quit from Congress and as Rajya Sabha MP blaming Rahul Gandhi's coterie for the mess in the party.

"Arjun Singh's case is different from Akhilesh Das as he has played a brand of politics entirely different from the UP leader. He has been anti-RSS and is his Nehru-Gandhi family loyalty. At the fag end of his career he may be uncomfortable under the present dispensation in the present PMO. His position as HRD minister will remain intact but his standing within the Congress party will go down," Pande says.

Despite declaring his loyalty to the Nehru-Gandhi family once again, Arjun Singh's committment to the Congress party is now being questioned.

Senior Congress leader RK Dhawan says he is mystified with Singh's comments.

"In his speech he (Arjun Singh) has mentioned about Emergency and events related to it. I was also involved with Congress during that period. I never saw him showing his apprehension towards Emergency to Indira Gandhi. I am mystified. When was the occasion for him to show his loyalty to the party then and now," Dhawan says.

On Saturday at the convocation ceremony of the Jamia Milia Islamia University, Arjun Singh came face-to-face with Sonia Gandhi for the first time after the release of his book.

Though both the leaders shared the dais, they did not even exchange greetings and there was no interaction between the two leaders throughout the two-hour-long ceremony.

Mohe Kahan Vishraam was released on Friday in the presence of President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.