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Anil Shastri flays Bhardwaj for attack on Sonia
Congress leader Anil Shastri has slammed senior member Hans Raj Bhardwaj for his direct attack on Sonia Gandhi as he sought to remind him that after being minister for 15 years, he was made governor by none other than the party chief herself.
New Delhi: Congress leader Anil Shastri has slammed senior member Hans Raj Bhardwaj for his direct attack on Sonia Gandhi as he sought to remind him that after being minister for 15 years, he was made governor by none other than the party chief herself.
"All this was courtesy Nehru family & now Bhardwaj blames Sonia ji for Congress's poor show in elections. Why was he quiet all these yrs," Shastri said on Twitter.
Shastri, son of former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and a Special Invitee to Congress Working Committee, also said that Bhardwaj was a Rajya Sabha member throughout his political career before being made the governor of Karnataka.
"After being minister for 15 yrs with 3 Congress PMs, Bhardwaj was finally made Governor by Sonia ji. He was all through in Rajya Sabha.
"HS Bhardwaj was given Rajya Sabha in 1982 by Indira ji, cabinet minister in 1984 by Rajiv ji, in 1991 by PV & again in 2004 by Sonia ji," Shastri tweeted.
Seventy seven-year-old Bhardwaj created a flutter in the party with his remarks that, "It is a matter of great sorrow that our leaders are getting summons from the court... Those at the top level, including at the level of the prime minister.
"Does Sonia Gandhi not understand what happened, why it happened and who did it? Everything is known. That is the style. Sharing no responsibility and yet do everything," he had said.
Congress had Friday given no importance to Bhardwaj's attack while merely noting that he should have "abstained" from making such comments at this phase of his life.
Party spokesperson Rita Bahuguna Joshi had also side- stepped questions about any disciplinary action against Bhardwaj, who has alleged that Gandhi "shared no responsibility" and was in the "grip of sycophants and corrupt people".
Bhardwaj was not included in the UPA-II after being the Law Minister in UPA-I. He was later named the governor of Karnataka.
His remarks came at a time when there is a tussle between the old guard and the generation next within Congress amid growing talk that Rahul Gandhi would be anointed soon as the party president.