New Delhi: Congress leader Pratibha Singh has pointed out that Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra do not devote enough time and importance to the Congress party and its leaders, according to a video posted online, reported news agency PTI. Singh, who is president of the party's Himachal Pradesh unit also blamed generation gap for the issues within the party ahead of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections this year. "I feel there is a little generation gap. What our seniors used to do, now the youngsters don't do that. What Sonia-ji, Indira-ji or Rajiv-ji used to do, today's generation don't do that," Singh told ThePrint in an interview.
However, the Congress leader later dismissed the statements saying she was misquoted and urged the website to remove the interview. "An interview published by @ThePrintIndia wrongly quotes my statements. I never made any statement disparaging the Congress leadership and the Gandhi family. The interviewer has taken creative liberties with my statements, misquoted throughout the interview," Singh tweeted.
"I am sorry to say whether it is Rahul-ji or Priyanka-ji, they don't devote as much time (to the party), and so people feel disappointed. And (they also) don't give as much importance (to the party leaders)," Singh can be heard saying in the video as per the agency.
The Mandi MP also indicated the unhappiness of senior leadership that led them to quit the party. "Many people who have left the party. And you know what (Ghulam Nabi) Azad-ji did after serving the nation for so long and he gave an open interview and said he was not being heard and was being made to wait for several months (to get an opportunity to talk to the party high command)," told Singh.
"Now Rahul-ji is in his third term in Parliament, I think. So he should learn. I am not saying I am giving him advice. In the interest of the party, I am saying that if you feel people are disappointed with your actions, then give them some time, listen to their grievances. Try to learn something. Then probably the party would have not reached this situation," she added.
The late Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh's wife also noted in a video message later that Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi are like her children and whatever advice she gave them should not be misunderstood.
"As far as Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka are concerned, as an elderly person, I always feel they are like children to me. If I advise my children or if I say something to my children, I would tell them in the same way. This should not be misunderstood and it should not convey any different meaning at all,” she said in the interview..
Singh, who later retracted from her statement asked the website to take the interview down and issue an apology.