Congress campaign led by Rahul not Priyanka: Jairam

The Congress campaign for the Lok Sabha election was being led by party vice president Rahul Gandhi and not his sister Priyanka, union minister Jairam Ramesh said Tuesday.

"Media creates a hype. Rahul Gandhi is the vice president of the party... he's going from state to state. Priyanka Gandhi is campaigning in two states. Would you like to see her as a future leader? That's her choice. She is charismatic. We have a vice president under whom we are running this election," the union rural development minister said in an interview to CNN-IBN news channel.

Ramesh also said that Congress president Sonia Gandhi feels that attacks against her son-in-law Robert Vadra are actually part of the political campaign against her family.

"She (Sonia Gandhi) has said it clearly that it is part of the political campaign. And her family is being targeted. These matters are in public domain for a long time," he said.

The minister said the book by former media advisor to the prime minister Sanjaya Baru on his years in the Prime Minister's Office was a "fictional bestseller".

"I don't want to comment on it. It's a dishonest immoral book. I will not say anything more."

On his retirement, Ramesh said: "I have turned 60. I believe there should be term limits. There needs to be fresh faces in the party. I must create conditions where youngsters come. It's not about retirement. We should have been able to create a system in which newer faces and ideas come in the system."

"I have seen some of our candidates... they are young, dynamic," he added.