Aiyar's jibe at PM, his latest in series of personal attacks

New Delhi, Dec 7 (PTI) Congress leader Mani ShankarAiyar's 'neech' (vile) jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Moditoday is only the latest in a series ...

New Delhi, Dec 7 (PTI) Congress leader Mani ShankarAiyar's 'neech' (vile) jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Moditoday is only the latest in a series of ill-timed personalattacks he has made on top BJP leaders, often at the cost ofpolitical embarrassment to his party.

The diplomat-turned politician's barb came on the lastday of campaigning for the first phase of the Gujarat assemblypolls, where the ruling BJP faces a spirited challenge fromthe opposition Congress. The first phase is to be held onSaturday and the second next Thursday.

Modi latched on to Aiyar's remarks to slam the Congressand present himself as a "victim" of its "anti-poor mindset"as he addressed rallies in Gujarat.

Many believe that Aiyar's 'chai-wala' barb at Modi duringthe 2014 Lok Sabha polls helped the then BJP prime ministerialcandidate a great deal as he often referred to it in hiscampaign to highlight his humble background and attack theCongress.

He had then claimed that Modi can never become primeminister but could sell tea at a Congress conclave, which wasthen underway.

In 1998, Aiyar, an articulate English speaker andwriter and who described himself today as a 'freelanceCongressman' had called the then prime minister and BJPstalwart Atal Bihari Vajpayee 'nalayak' (a pejorative Hindiword loosely translated as incompetent).

The backlash followed by his comment forced him toapologise.

Even then Aiyar had made a similar defense that he didtoday; that he did not understand the import of the Hindi wordused by him.

The former union minister's unsavoury remarks gave freshammunition to Modi to target Congress. Modi had only recentlyused Aiyar's reference to succession to Mughal kings by theirsons to justify Rahul Gandhi's impending elevation as Congresspresident.

Aiyar, though, had also said that anybody was free tocontest election against Gandhi but Modi seized on his Mughalreference to liken Gandhi's elevation to "Aurangzeb raaj".

Aiyar once called terror outfit LeT founder Hafiz Saeedas "Hafiz saab". He suggested in an interview on a PakistaniTV channel that peace between India and Pakistan can happenonly when the Modi government falls and asked the neighbouringcountry to help topple the BJP dispensation.

Even his own party colleague Ajay Maken, then a ministerin the UPA government, was not spared of his scorn in 2011 asAiyar poked fun at him over his letter, saying a "BA pass"from Hansraj college in Delhi cannot use a word like"dichotomous".

Aiyar hit back at Maken, the then sports minister, foraccusing him of playing a part in the cost escalation ofCommonwealth Games projects and also questioned theauthenticity of the letter he had written to the primeminister in which he made the allegations.

Aiyar, a former sports minister himself, said Maken wasnot qualified enough to write such a letter to the primeminister. "... It contains words like 'dichotomous' which Icannot believe that a BA Pass from Hansraj College wouldknow," he said.PTI KRGSN.

This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.

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