Ready for any punishment if Cong suffers in Guj polls due to my comments: Aiyar

 A day after being suspended from the Congress, Mani Shankar Aiyar today said he would accept any punishment if the party suffers damage in the Gujarat polls due to his "neech aadmi" remark against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Aiyar said the Congress party had given him a lot and there was no future for India without the party.

"If the Congress has suffered any damage because of what I have said, then I deeply regret it," he told reporters on the sidelines of an India-Pakistan seminar.

"Aur agar party ko election mein kuchh bhi nuksan hota hai, to jo bhi uchit dand Congress party dena chahe wo de sakte hain (And if the Congress suffers any damage in the polls due to my comments, then I will accept whatever punishment the party deems fit)," he said.

The senior party leader also asserted that the Congress party was doing well in Gujarat under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi.

The Congress last night suspended Aiyar from the primary membership of the party after he set off a firestorm by calling the prime minister "neech kism ka aadmi" (a lowly sort of person), remarks fraught with adverse consequences for the party in poll-bound Gujarat.
Gujarat goes to polls tomorrow for the first phase of the elections. The second phase is on December 14.

Aiyar's ill-timed comment came after Modi accused the Congress of seeking votes in B R Ambedkar's name but trying to erase his contribution to nation building.