No option except Sonia or Rahul for party chief: Aiyar

Chandigarh: “I think that out of the mother-son duo, one will become the Congress president because there is no other option,” former Union minister Mani Shankar Aiyar said at the 6th edition of Khushwant Singh Literary Festival here on Sunday.

“When no one is willing to come forward to contest the party president elections, it will continue to be just between mother and son (Sonia and Rahul Gandhi),” he added.

When asked about the presence of young ministers, he said, “If they are willing to contest the elections for the post of the party president, they should, as no one is stopping them. But no one wants to, because the party does not accept anyone else in that position except Rahul or Sonia Gandhi.”

Clarifying his comment regarding Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he added, “I never said that a chaiwalla (tea vendor) cannot become a Prime Minister. My statement was twisted and presented by media. Modi’s family used to run a canteen and even I used to go and sit there sometimes.”

Criticising GST by calling it a ‘mindless’ decision, he called Modi ‘horrible’ for the country and stressed on India getting rid of him as soon as possible. “This kind of tax regime has completely broken the backbone of small businesses in India. A small vendor has no knowledge about this tax and he doesn’t know how to buy bottle gourd, onions or tomatoes. This kind of tax regime has never been implemented ever before in the country and he has just imposed his decision. They even ignored any warnings or suggestions from the Opposition.”

Talking about the 2018 elections, he said, “We will definitely fight the elections and stand up against the BJP. After what happened in UP, in order to get rid of this man (Modi), everyone from the Opposition needs to unite and fight against him. Mayawati should be brought back into the coalition and the elections need to happen.”