Ready for punishment, says Mani Shankar Aiyar

New Delhi: Controversial Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar, suspended from the party for making derogatory remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said on Friday that he would accept any punishment if the party suffers damage in Gujarat polls because of his comments.

“If the Congress has suffered any damage because of what I have said, then I deeply regret it,” he said.

The former Union minister said that the Congress is doing well in Gujarat under the leadership of the Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi.

The utterances of Mr Aiyar on Thursday had embarrassed his party in an electorally surcharged atmosphere.

First, Mr Gandhi rebuked the veteran leader and then suspended him from the party.

Mr Aiyar had referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as “neech kism ka aadmi” (a vile man). Later, Mr Aiyar tried to defuse the situation by saying that he was a “freelance Congressman”. But by then the damage had already been done.

The BJP was quick to latch on to the Mr Aiyar’s statement and attacked the Congress by saying that the humble background of the Prime Minister always irks the Congress. The Prime Minister also raked up the issue in the election rally that he addressed in the poll bound state of Gujarat on Friday.

In a damage control move, the Congress suspended Mr Aiyar and also challenged the BJP to do the same to their “motormouths”.

Mr Aiyar is no stranger to controversy. Just before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections he had termed Mr Modi as a “chaiwalla” (tea seller).  In 1998 also he had called the then Prime Minister and BJP stalwart Atal Bihari Vajpayee “nalayak” (unworthy).

Gujarat goes to polls on Saturday for the first phase of the elections. The second phase is on December 14. The result will be declared on December 18.