Congress ticks off Manishanker Aiyar for his tea boy remarks against Narendra Modi

Congress on Saturday ticked off party leader Manishanker Aiyar for his controversial remarks that the party would welcome Narendra Modi to sell tea at AICC meetings.

"The party does not approve of the statement," Congress general secretary Ajay Maken, who is in charge of the media department, told PTI.

Aiyar had mocked Modi's Prime Ministerial ambitions and said a place will be identified for the Gujarat Chief Minister to distribute tea here. "I promise you in 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 had said at the venue of the AICC meeting here.

Aiyar's remarks came against the backdrop of Modi's reference to his own humble socio-economic background at rallies while targeting the Gandhi-Nehru family.

Aiyar's remark had come under severe attack from BJP yesterday with the main opposition saying democracy would be strengthened if a former tea vendor succeeded in defeating dynastic politics.

While BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar described Aiyar as an "icon of cheap thinking", Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley posted on his 'twitter.com' page that "the strength of Indian democracy will be proved when a former tea vendor defeats a dynasty representative. Let this be the battle of 2014."

Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Agarwal had earlier made similar remarks against Modi, saying a person who used to sell tea cannot have a national perspective.