Rahul's calling, Pranab Mukherjee remarked in book

New Delhi: Pranab Mukherjee was aghast at Rahul Gandhi's ordinance-tearing act in 2013 and said he has all the "arrogance" of his GandhiNehru lineage without their political acumen and that this episode was the "final nail in the coffin" for the Congress in the Lok Sabha polls the subsequent year, a book on the late president says.

"In Pranab, My Father: A Daughter Remembers", Sharmistha Mukherjee says that her father also told her that "maybe politics wasn't Rahul's calling" and his "lack of charisma and political understanding is creating a problem" besides his "frequent disappearing acts".

On September 27, 2013, Rahul walked into a press conference held by former Cabinet minister Ajay Maken and trashed a proposed government ordinance calling it "complete nonsense."

Then he tore a copy of the ordinance. The ordinance aimed to bypass a Supreme Court order of disqualification of convicted legislators and proposed they may continue as a member while an appeal was pending. (PTI)