Mumbai: Maharashtra Congress leaders have slammed fellow party leader Mani Shankar Aiyar over his anti-party comments in his upcoming book 'A Maverick In Politics'.
Aiyar has said in his book that Pranab Mukherjee should have been given the reins of the UPA-II government and Manmohan Singh made the President when the office of Rashtrapati presented an opening in 2012. The Congressman said that making such a move could have prevented a “paralysis of governance in the UPA”. Aiyar said that retaining Manmohan Singh as the PM and shifting Mukherjee to Rashtrapati Bhawan “doomed” the prospects of the Congress forming UPA-III.
Speaking to ETV Bharat on Mani Shankar's claim, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan while reacting to Aiyar's comments in the book, said, "I have not seen that statement yet. I do not agree with it. It is wrong". The former Chief Minister also praised the work of the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the UPA.
Over his tenure as Minister in the PM Office during the UPA, Chavan said, "I did not have the Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office after 2010. I was there for only one year in UPA-2. In 2009, under the leadership of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the number of MPs went from 145 to 206. His (Mani Shankar Aiyar's) statement for 2014 may be personal. I was not there during that period," Chavan added.
Congress leader and MLA Abhijit Vanjari also criticized Mani Shankar Aiyar's remarks in the book. Speaking to an ETV Bharat, Vanjari said, "Mani Shankar Aiyar is now very old. When you get old, old people start making jokes. That is what happened to him. For that reason, instead of spoiling the atmosphere by using vulgar language, I wish him to stay calm. I wish for him to sit at home and play with his grandchildren,” he said.
“Along with this, the Congress party should take note of the leaders who make such statements and take action against them. Doing so will encourage the workers who are working with renewed vigor,” added Vanjari.
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