Any decision on the leadership issue in the Congress has to be taken by Sonia Gandhi and the first family, party leader Digvijay Singh said today in the backdrop of M L Fotedar's claim that Indira Gandhi had spoken of Priyanka as her virtual political heir.
"This decision has to be taken by Sonia Gandhi and the family and neither by Fotedar or Digvijay Singh", the Congress General Secretary told reporters at the party briefing.
In his book "The Chinar Leaves", Fotedar has claimed that Indira Gandhi spoke of her granddaughter Priyanka as her virtual political heir shortly before her death, predicting that "she will shine and the next century will be hers".
Fotedar quoted the former Prime Minister as telling him, "People will see me in her."
The yet-to-be-released book comes at a time when there are frequent calls within the Congress to bring Priyanka into active politics.
Fotedar also recalls in his account of Congress history that while former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had reacted happily when told of Indira's desires about Priyanka, Sonia Gandhi had responded in quite the opposite manner.
The book also claims that Sonia was miffed at Fotedar when he told her about Indira's will and left the room in a huff as she was taken aback with her mother-in-law's views.
This, the author says, happened when he went to meet Sonia who had sought his counsel on fielding son Rahul into politics with a ticket in Amethi.
