After Aiyar, Congress in firefighting mode again

After the Mani Shankar Aiyar episode, the Congress found itself in the dock over comments by its youth wing worker from Jammu & Kashmir   questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's parentage.

The little known Youth Congress functionary found himself at the centre of a controversy when Modi picked up his tweets and mentioned it at an election rally in Lunawada in Gujarat, prompting the Congress to disown its party worker.

"Rahul Gandhi, son of Rajiv Gandhi. Sacrificed his life for India. Rahul Gandhi, grandson of Indira Gandhi. Sacrificed her life for India. Rahul Gandhi, great grandson of Jawaharlal Nehru, fought for India's independence. Narendra Modi, son of ...? Grand son of ...," Nizami had said on Twitter.

The BJP  went ballistic over  the remarks, targetting the Congress and accusing it of insulting Modi, the "son of the soil".

"Rahul Gandhi's party is asking me who are my parents. The people of my country are my parents. I am the son of this soil, this Lunawada," Modi said.

Referring to Nizami's purported tweets, Modi said the Congress leader had called for Azad Kashmir and said "har ghar se Afzal nikalega" (there will be an Afzal in every house). "He calls our Army rapists. Does Congress want to win election with the help of such people," Modi asked at a rally.

As an immediate reaction, Nizami blocked access to his Twitter account and later said that his supposed "anti-national" tweets referred to by the prime minister were "fake" and that he had lodged a complaint with the police in 2015.

Nizami who, asks Cong

Finding itself cornered, Congress spokesperson Rajiv Shukla sought to distance the party from the controversy.

"Nizami who? Is he your (Modi's) man? We don't know who this Nizami is. He does not hold any position in the party. We can also say that there is some random person Ram Lal in the BJP, who said something," Shukla said.

The Nizami controversy came on the heels of the Congress suspending veteran leader Mani Shankar Aiyar from the party for making "distasteful" remarks against Modi.

Rahul, who is set to take over as Congress President next week, directed the party spokespersons to refrain from making personal comments against the prime minister.