Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh has come under fresh attack from within the party with senior Congress leader Vidya Charan Shukla, the powerful Information and Broadcasting Minister in Indira Gandhi Cabinet during the Emergency, questioning his much-publicised claim that he had opposed the Emergency.

“AICC spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi had put it absolutely correctly. He (Arjun Singh) hardly had any line in Delhi. He was working in the state then,” Shukla, who was called the “Emergency Minister”, told The Sunday Express on the phone from Chhattisgarh on Friday.

After Singh stated that he had differed with Indira Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi over the Emergency, Singhvi had countered it during a press conference at AICC headquarters, saying the Congress did not recollect that Singh ever came out in opposition to the Emergency in the past 30 years. With Shukla lending credence to the Congress’ official line on this issue, there were few takers for Singh’s claim that he had conveyed his opposition to Indira Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi privately.

However, Singh told The Sunday Express: “I don’t want to get into this. It was only with Indiraji and Sanjayji. What can I do if they (Congressmen) don’t know about it?”

The HRD Minister also said he was not “isolated” in the party, even though Congress President Sonia Gandhi was yet to broach any discussion with him on the controversy surrounding his remarks questioning the decision-making process in the party. “I don’t feel isolated at all. If some people feel happy about it (criticising him) let them do that,” he said.

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