Remove Modi for Pakistan talks: Mani Shankar Aiyar

New Delhi: Senior Congress leader and former Union minister Mani Shankar Aiyar stoked a fresh controversy on Tuesday as he reportedly said in a Pakistani TV panel discussion that Prime Minister Narendra Modi “needs to be removed” if talks between the two nations are to resume.

The remarks drew a sharp response from the BJP and RJD, with the BJP saying Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi should let the country know where they stood on this, and even labelled Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar as a propagandist for the ISIS.

The Congress, however, said the BJP’s charges were “absolute nonsense”, and that Mr Aiyar had told the party he hadn’t said any such thing. When the anchor of Pakistani news channel Duniya TV asked what was to be done to end the stalemate in ties between the two nations, Mr Aiyar said:

“The first and foremost thing is to remove Mr Modi. Only then can the talks move forward. We have to wait for four more years. They (panelists) are all optimist and feel we can move forward when Modi Sahab is there, but I don’t think so."

"Bring Congress back to power and remove them. There is no other way (to better ties). We will remove them, till then you (Pakistan) have to wait”

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