Oct. 23: Veteran Congress leader Makhanlal Fotedar's claim that Indira Gandhi saw granddaughter Priyanka Gandhi as her political successor sounds a bit rich and runs contrary to Priyanka's own assertion that Rahul was Indira's favourite.

In his yet to be released memoirs titled The Chinar Leaves, Fotedarhas revealed that Indira had a premonition about her death just days before she was assassinated and wanted her granddaughter Priyanka to carry forward her political legacy.

In April 2009, speaking to NDTV's Barkha Dutt, Priyanka had said:"My brother was absolutely, let me tell you, her favourite and the idealising granddaughter would be kind of marginalised for the favourite grandson."

Sonia Gandhi, too, had noted in her comments in a tribute to Rajiv Gandhi that even as Prime Minister, Indira would often finish off Rahul's leftover breakfast just to prevent him from getting scolded by Sonia.

Family friends and old-timers recall Indira's faith and trust in Rahul. A few days before her assassination on October 31, 1984, Indira had hugged Rahul, barely 14 at the time, a bit longer than usual and whispered in his ear, telling him to take charge of things in the case of any "unlikely eventuality".

A few days earlier, she had told her grandson about her preferred funeral arrangements. Indira had also given him in writing that if she died a violent death, the violence would be in the thoughts of the assassin, not in her death. "For no hate is dark enough to overshadow the extent of my love for the people and my country, no force is strong enough to divert me from that purpose and my endeavour to take this country forward."

When interviewer Dutt asked Priyanka that many see in her shades of Indira, Priyanka insisted that she was more like Rajiv."Well, my grandmother was a different personality. She was... I think my father was gentler... not to say that my grandmother wasn't gentle in her own way. But my father was gentler, and I really think that I'm gentler than she was." Priyanka admitted that she felt "a little bit bad" about the preferential treatment given to Rahul.

"But she (Indira) had this bond with him. And she taught him and she spent a lot of time with him, talking to him... even the morning that she passed away. And I think that Rahul has imbibed a lot of that and his thinking is in many ways is a lot like my father, because he is a visionary like that. He's an institution builder like my father was, but it's a good mix. Because his understanding of politics is really very good. Much better than he is given credit for. And that I think comes from my grandmother."

Fotedar is the second Congress politician to project Priyanka as Indira's political successor. In April 2014, Janardan Dwivedi had gone public, claiming that Rajiv had spoken to him about his daughter's political aptitude in 1990.

Privately, some senior Congress leaders on Monday said Fotedar's remarks, much like Dwivedi's in 2014, are part of "wishful" thinking and indicative of their disillusionment with Rahul. These ageing leaders, mostly Brahmins, feel Priyanka's formal induction in the party would galvanise the grand old party.