Ridiculous, says Mrs Gandhi

Press, 30 August 1980, Page 6

Ridiculous, says Mrs Gandhi

NZPA London India’s Prime -Minister, Mrs Gandhi, has described as ridiculous the allegations in a new book that her father, Pandit Nehru, had an affair with Lady Edwina Mountbatten. However, there has been no reaction in the British press from the Mountbatten family to the allegations, contained in a biography of the late Earl Mountbatten by an historian, Richard Hough. Lord Mountbatten’s son-in-law, Lord Braboume, and his trustees are seeking a High Court injunction to prevent i Hough representing his book ■ as authorised bv the late Earl. 1 j A family spokesman said! they “have nothing to hide” but will make no comment on the allegations until ■ the court action is over. I

11 Mr John Barratt, secretary , to the trustees and Lord! i: Mountbatten’s former pritvate secretary, said yester- • day that no family member i i would comment at this stage 11 because of the court Case. | Buckingham Palace also i refused to comment. i; Hough says that Lady i! Mbuntbatten began having l affairs soon after her mar- ’! riage in 1922, and that Lord • | Mountbatteii told him it had [ “hit him very hard” when Ihe discovered what was l going on. I He also says that an affair I between Lady Mountbatteii I and Nehru, of which Lord Mountbatten was aware, had I a marked effect on the negoItiations which led to India's: independence. j Lord Mountbatten was. •India's last Viceroy and first' ! Governor-General. i