Congress slams Sharad Pawar's comments on Sonia

The Uttar Pradesh unit of the Congress on Saturday slammed NCP leader Sharad Pawar's comments on party president Sonia Gandhi in his biography.

Chairman of the communications department of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC), Satyadev Tripathi, said Pawar's comments on Sonia were a figment of his imagination.

"She was not even in politics when Pawar says Sonia Gandhi was trying to take power and control the party," he said in a joint statement with Ram Krishna Dwivedi, chairman of the state disciplinary committee.

Tripathi called some excerpts in the book as "unfair, fictitious and unwarranted".

He also said that the Congress always respected the talent and experience of former prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao and in comparison Sharad Pawar does not stand anywhere.

"Sharad ji pales in comparison to Rao saheb and he was never in contention to become the prime minister from the Congress side," he added.

The Congress leaders said the book reflected the frustration of the former defence minister fpr not being able to occupy the highest office.