New Delhi : Mani Shankar Aiyar declared, “I am not a Rahulian,” even as he predicted a third straight term for Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and attacked his own party colleagues. After his remarks on the Vijayan government triggered controversy, Aiyar said, “I am in the Congress party, I haven’t left it.
Mr Rahul Gandhi has forgotten that I am a member of the party. Therefore, I am a Gandhian, I am a Nehruvian, I am a Rajivian, but I am not a Rahulian. The comment has sharpened fault lines within the party, particularly in Kerala where the Congress is preparing for a high-stakes Assembly election. Aiyar also predicted that Vijayan would retain power for a third consecutive term in the upcoming Assembly polls.
Promise me that VD Satheesan will be the next CM, then I am ready to withdraw the statement on Pinarayi Vijayan,” he said. If Satheesan is made the CM, I am ready to withdraw the statement that Pinarayi will become CM. He is a socialist secularist. Even as he forecast a Left victory, Aiyar described Vijayan as “a very intelligent man” and added, “If I am Pinarayi Vijayan I wouldn’t want me.”
Can you imagine what is the condition of a party which raises a rowdy like KC Venugopal to the level of Sardar Patel, to Rahul Gandhi? That is all I need to say as an answer,” he told ANI. He also said, “Our party is so stupid that they have made people like KC Venugopal sit in positions of Sardar Patel and made people like Pawan Khera spokespersons.”
I have never met a more unprincipled careerist than Shashi Tharoor. He is now trying to become Modi’s foreign minister, he said. The remark is likely to deepen internal tensions in the Kerala unit, where Tharoor and Satheesan are viewed as prominent faces. The Bharatiya Janata Party waded into the row, with former Tamil Nadu BJP president K. Annamalai launching a sharp attack on Aiyar and the Congress.