Mani Shankar Aiyar continues praise for Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, attacks Congress leaders

Reacting to the response of Congress leaders that he was not connected with the party these days, Aiyar said that he was yet to get a letter of expulsion from Mallikarjun Kharge.

Thiruvananthapuram: Congress veteran Mani Shankar Aiyar continued his praise for the Pinarayi Vijayan-led CPM government in Kerala and stepped up personal attack against the Congress leaders who criticized him for his remark that Vijayan would continue as Kerala chief minister for a third term.

Aiyar told reporters that being a Gandhian he could only tell the truth and hence he hailed the state's achievement especially with regard to the Panchayati Raj implementation. He came down heavily against AICC general secretary K C Venugopal and other senior leaders. He also added that his speech on Sunday was exaggerated by the media.

Reacting to the response of Congress leaders that he was not connected with the party these days, Aiyar said that he was yet to get a letter of expulsion from Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.

"Being a Congressman I would like to see the Congress winning the election. But as a Gandhian I can only tell the truth. I made my remarks about the Communist government in Kerala after learning the achievements made by the state as envisioned by former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. The state could even eradicate poverty through the Panchayati Raj system," said Aiyar, who addressed the media along with local self government minister M B Rajesh and CPM senior leader Thomas Isaac here on Monday.

Speaking to a section of media, Aiyar came down heavily on K C Venugopal, Ramesh Chennithala and Shashi Tharoor MP. He even termed Venugopal as a 'goon' and Tharoor as 'opportunist'.

However, Aiyar praised Kerala opposition leader V D Satheesan as one of the secular socialist leaders in the Congress party. He also said that the Congress leaders were divided while the CPM leaders were quite disciplined.

Meanwhile, Satheesan as well as Venugopal and Ramesh Chennithala strongly flayed Aiyar by stating that he was not at all associated with the Congress these days.

Aiyar is in Thiruvananthapuram to participate in an international seminar of 'Vision 31: Development and democracy' organised by the Kerala planning board.