New Delhi, May 9: The Congress today snubbed Arjun Singh for saying the party’s decision-making process had fallen into “a bit of a disarray”, but an unfazed HRD minister shot from the hip again minutes later.

In the presence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Pratibha Patil at a book release, the Union human resource development minister rued: “Nowadays, the evaluation of loyalty is being done in a very limited context.”

Instead of “true loyalty, dikhawa (pretence) is gaining ground”, he added. The Prime Minister, whom Arjun has tried to bait in the past, avoided making any comment.

The HRD minister paid tributes to Indira Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi, saying they never held his reservations about the Emergency against him.

Arjun’s comments came at the release of Mohin Kahan Vishram, a collection of articles on him and his interviews. A comment by him in one of the interviews in the book had yesterday created a flutter in the Congress.

“Earlier, there were many opportunities to contribute to the decisions, and even major decisions of the Congress were taken after going through the process of consultations and people used to accept it,” Arjun is quoted as saying in the interview.

“But now this process has fallen into a bit of a disarray and when people do not have the feeling that they have contributed to the decision-making process, they have no hassles in defying it.”

The Congress quickly distanced itself from the remarks, with its media cell chief M. Veerappa Moily calling them “untrue”.

Party spokesperson Shakil Ahmad said: “We do not agree with it. Congress president Sonia Gandhi has always been fair and transparent in holding consultations.”

He reminded Arjun that as a member of the Congress Working Committee, he could raise issues at the party’s top decision-making body.

The party had snubbed the HRD minister last month after he had pitched for Rahul Gandhi as the Congress candidate for Prime Minister in the 2009 elections.

A senior party leader today suggested that Arjun, 78, was disturbed at being left out of the current regime’s core decision-making process.

“The remark about a lack of internal democracy is inaccurate. Senior leaders are always consulted. What Arjun is not admitting is that he is not part of it,” the leader said.

“This must be hurting him a lot. But he must realise that it is slippery at the top. There was a time when he was part of that decision-making process and others were on the margins.”