Janardhan Dwivedi addresses media personnel in Delhi.
Senior Congress leader Janardhan Dwivedi met AK Antony, who heads the Congress Disciplinary Committee, on Thursday evening to clarify the remarks he purportedly made to a news website about Prime Minister Narendra Modi, sources told NDTV.
The report in the news website rediff.com had quoted Mr Dwivedi as saying that Mr Modi's victory in the general elections last year was "a victory of Indianness" and it was the start of a "new era."
While the reporter Sheela Bhatt tweeted that she "stood by her story", the Congress took exception to the comment and ordered Mr Dwivedi to issue a clarification.
Senior party leader Ajay Maken quoted former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to explain what the Congress understands by "Indianness" and asserted that PM Modi "cannot be seen as a symbol of that."
In face of the condemnation from the party, Mr Dwivedi denied making any comment that could be construed as praise of the Prime Minister.
"Who has said Modi is a symbol of Indianness? Those are not my words," he said. "Gandhi and Nehru were symbols of 'Bhartiyata'. How can one expect that I'll say Narendra Modi is a symbol of Indianess?"
Earlier, Mr Dwivedi had clarified the "new era" remark, but had not attempted to defend or deny the one on "Indianness", deeply embarrassing his party, which is struggling to regroup ahead of the coming elections in Delhi.
Mr Dwivedi also claimed that he was quoted out of context by rediff.com and described the controversy as a "useless debate".