Former Union Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar was left with egg on his face after his jibe at “tea seller” Narendra Modi evoked strong reaction from the Congress’ friends and foes alike, causing embarrassment to the grand old party.
Aiyar had mocked the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate’s ambitions saying a place will be identified for the Gujarat Chief Minister to distribute tea at the AICC session. “I promise you that in the 21st Century Narendra Modi will never become the Prime Minister of the country. But if he wants to distribute tea here, we will find a place for him,” Aiyar said at the venue of the AICC meeting here.
The Congress leader’s jibe at Modi was in apparent reference to Modi’s repeated statements at public rallies, that it was “only possible in a party like the BJP that a boy who used to sell tea in trains had been fielded for the top job.” Though Congress leaders remained tight-lipped over Aiyar’s remarks, Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah hit out at Aiyar for mocking Modi’s “humble” background. Abdullah’s National Conference is part of the UPA.
“Modi has a lot of negatives, but his humble origins are a positive some of us can’t claim. We aren’t helping our campaign by mocking him,” Omar wrote on micro-blogging website Twitter in an apparent reference to the Congress leader’s remarks. Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley tweeted: “The strength of Indian democracy will be proved when a former tea vendor defeats a dynasty’s representative. let this be the battle of 2014.” BJP general secretary Rajiv Pratap Rudy also said: “The people of this country will answer Aiyar. The countdown of the Congress party has begun.”
BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi said that it would be clear after the polls as to who sells tea and who forms the Government. An unfazed Aiyar refused to apologies. “Apology, for whatIJ” he asked saying he did not say anything that could be construed as mocking Modi. “It is Modi who keeps bringing to the fore his background of being a tea stall owner while making a pitch to the people of India for the elections. Therefore, I just said that Modi will never be the Prime Minister of India, but if he wants, we can set up a tea stall for him here,” he said.