Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar has sparked a new controversy with another statement, this time offering advice to MP Rahul Gandhi. He reportedly backed Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as leader of the Indian bloc, saying that without her the alliance “will disappear”.
These new statements come just days after Aiyar announced that he is not a “Rahuliya” because the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha is much younger than him and far away in his political career.
“Mamata Banerjee is the leader of this (India) alliance. Besides her, there are two-four others who can achieve this position,” he said on Sunday afternoon.
“I hope that instead of trying to stay in this position, which belongs to smaller parties – be it Stalin, Mamata Didi, Akhilesh (Yadav), Tejashwi (Yadav) or whoever – Rahul Gandhi should let them handle it,” NDTV quoted Aiyar as saying.
Aiyar’s series of controversial statements also come amid tense relations with Congress.
Last Sunday, Mani Shankar Aiyar expressed confidence in CPI(Maoist)’s Pinarayi Vijayan, saying he would continue in his position as Kerala’s chief minister.
“Therefore, in the presence of the Prime Minister, who I am sure will be the next Prime Minister, I renew my appeal to strengthen Kerala as the best Panchayati Raj state in the country, and the state laws should be amended on the basis of practical experience, the insights of Thomas Isaac, the five-volume report which I chaired, and the memorandum on district planning written by me in Ramachandran which was circulated by the Planning Commission when it really supported Panchayati Raj,” Aiyar said.
But the Congress distanced itself from Aiyar’s statements, saying that it had absolutely no relationship with the party over the past few years, adding that it spoke and wrote in a purely personal capacity.
The party further said that the people of Kerala will bring back the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) to power for more responsible and responsive governance.
Aiyar also launched several verbal attacks on other Congress leaders, including Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor, whom he described as an “unprincipled professional”. Aiyar described AICC general secretary KC Venugopal as “rowdy” and criticized party veteran Ramesh Chennithala.
Following criticism over his remarks, Aiyar said that if Congress cannot accept dissidents, it is the “doom” of the party, and if it does not have the courage to respond to the person in “polite but firm language”, then he does not deserve to rule.
