New Delhi: Sharmistha Mukherjee, the daughter of former president Pranab Mukherjee, on Friday accused Congress supporters of viciously trolling her on social media for questioning the role of the Gandhi family in an interview last week. She said the trolls said nasty things to her with “sexual connotations”.

“Ever since the book on my father came out…Congress social media and some of the Congress leaders also had been speaking against it. Congress social media had been viciously trolling me,” she said.

Referring to her remark on the sidelines of the Jaipur Literature Fest that the Congress should look beyond the Gandhi family for leadership, she said she has been facing all kinds of abuses since the interview.

“I made it very clear that I am a Congressperson, Congress still has a lot of importance to play in national politics. But the Congress should look beyond the leadership of the Gandhi-Nehru family…Since then all hell broke loose. All kinds of abuses had been heaped upon me. Not only that, dragging my father, the whole contention of that argument as if Congress is like a zamindari of the Gandhi-Nehru family…,” she said.

Mukherjee claimed a supporter followed by senior Congress leaders said nasty things about her on social media.

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“Yesterday, there has been one Congress supporter…he is followed by very senior leaders of Congress…He went berserk, saying all kinds of nasty things…nasty things having sexual connotations…I responded to that tagging Jairam Ramesh, Supriya Shrinate, Rahul Gandhi, Congress handle. But there hasn’t been any response. So, then I decided to write this open letter to Congress, to Rahul Gandhi and tweeted it…I also tagged Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge,” she added.

What Sharmistha Mukherjee said last week

On last Monday, Mukherjee, who penned a book on her interactions with the late Congress leader, said she is worried about the party.

“But as a Congress supporter and a responsible citizen, I am worried about the party. And certainly the time has come to look outside the Nehru-Gandhi family for leadership,” Sharmistha Mukherjee said.

“The Congress should introspect whether it is truly upholding its ideology forward today. Are pluralism, secularism, tolerance, inclusivity, freedom of expression, which have been at the core of Congress, being followed in practice?” she added.

With inputs from PTI, ANI