Veteran Congress leader Margaret Alva on Thursday refuted the allegations that she had tried to denigrate party president Sonia Gandhi or anyone else through her new autobiography. “I have no axe to grind,” said Ms. Alva while releasing the much talked-about book, Courage and Commitment , here.
Ms. Alva, the former Governor of Uttarakhand and Rajasthan, said the facts narrated in her autobiography were already in the public domain and she had always treated Ms. Gandhi as her leader and friend. She said she had given the second copy of her book to Ms. Gandhi after giving the first copy to her husband. Referring to the controversies being generated on the reference to the AgustaWestland scam in her book, Ms. Alva said she had cited the records in the context of corruption reported in the deal. “The book narrates the story of my life and describes how I have single-handedly saved my reputation.”
In conversation with journalist Nupur Basu, Ms. Alva said the politicians need to take responsibility if something goes wrong in the dispensation under their control. She said she was no longer in the decision making structure of the Congress.
