Notwithstanding Rahul Gandhi's disapproval, Union Minister Salman Khurshid today said he stood by his remark, in which he had dubbed Narendra Modi as "impotent" due to his "inability" to control riots.
Khurshid said what other term could be used for a person like Modi.
"Was it not his duty as the chief minister to check riots... if it was and he failed to do so, what is a person who failed to discharge his duty called," Khurshid asked reporters here.
When asked whether he would also use the same term for the then prime minister in the light of 1984 riots, Khurshid said that he is not in the world today but Modi is among us as a claimant of prime minister's post and he is answerable to the incidents taking place during his tenure.
On a day's visit to his parliamentary constituency here, Khurshid said,"Had Modi fulfilled his duties as per his post, the then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee would not have advised him to follow 'rajdharm'."
"Had he been well today, Atalji would have supported me," Khurshid said adding that he himself has learnt a lot from him (Atal)... he had a very impressive personality.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on February 27 said that he does not approve of the comments by Khurshid against the Gujarat chief minister.
On February 26, without taking the name of Modi, Khurshid, who is a sitting MP from Farrukhabad, described him as "impotent" and asked why a man who aspires to be the prime minister of the country could not do anything during the 2002 riots. The remark invited a sharp condemnation from the BJP.