New Delhi, July 10: Salman Khurshid, whose political career got a huge boost when he was given the important law ministry in the central government last year, appears to have got into troubled waters by making unsavoury remarks about Rahul Gandhi.

Though Khurshid promptly clarified his remarks, blaming the media for “misinterpretation” and “negative projection”, senior Congress leaders believed he might have already inflicted damage on himself. What is worse, the rival parties used his comments to buttress their charge of policy paralysis and question Rahul Gandhi’s credentials as a leader.

A newspaper reported that Khurshid had apparently talked of lack of direction in the party, argued that Sonia Gandhi, and not Manmohan Singh, could set the stage for change and felt that Rahul was only playing a cameo who was not assuming leadership upfront.

Senior leaders in the party wondered what had happened to the law minister who is also a member of the Group of Ministers on Media, the government’s formal communication system. Top sources revealed Khurshid had been pulled up and asked to explain his remarks. He told the leadership that the media had made a “mischievous presentation” of his arguments and he had never intended to attack Rahul.

Khurshid promptly addressed a news conference, accusing the media of wrongly interpreting his remarks, but some party leaders noted with curiosity that he had not denied making those comments about Rahul. Khurshid said: “My urging of young and new leadership of our party to prepare themselves to lead from the front, to prepare themselves to take on the challenge of our times is something you must see in the right context rather than in the negative context.”

Visibly angry with the media, he said: “I, on reflection, feel this (discussion about leadership) is something which we should restrict to within our party forum. Obviously every time that we reach out to you, talk to you, it is for you to make a decision. Are you going to see that in a positive light? Or are you going to project it in a negative light?”

But Khurshid’s clarification has not impressed majority of the leaders in the party. One AICC functionary told The Telegraph: “How can a Group of Ministers on Media member provide fodder to the Opposition to attack our leadership and the government?”