Congress leader wants Mani Shankar Aiyar sacked over Pakistan remarks, says he'll write to Rahul Gandhi

Senior Congress leader and former lawmaker Hanumantha Rao said he will write to party president Rahul Gandhi and urge him to expel Mani Shankar Aiyar over his Pakistan remarks, ANI reported.

Mani Shankar Aiyar should stop giving such remarks, he has already been suspended. He should stay quiet. BJP can take advantage of this. I am writing to Rahul Gandhi ji asking him to expel Aiyar from the party: V. Hanumantha Rao, Congress on Aiyar's remarks on Pakistan pic.twitter.com/4QN4bbHvSO

— ANI (@ANI) February 13, 2018

“Being such an educated person, he is making such frivolous statements. Because of him, this generation is suffering. Better he should stop talking such weird things because it can distract majority workers of Congress party,” he was further  quoted by ANI  as saying.

Rao’s reaction came after Aiyar on Tuesday said he received “much more hatred in India” than the love showered on him by people in Pakistan.

On Monday, Aiyar hailed Islamabad for seeking to resolve issues with India through dialogue. “There is only one way of resolving India-Pakistan issues and that is by an uninterrupted and uninterruptible dialogue,” he said.  The Express Tribune  also quoted Aiyar as saying at a session in Karachi, “I love Pakistan because I love India.”

Aiyar’s comments come just days after a group of  heavily-armed men attacked  an army camp in Jammu, killing six soldiers and one civilian. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman subsequently  warned Pakistan  that it will “pay for its misadventures”.

Aiyar was  suspended from the primary leadership  of the party in December 2017 after he referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as ’neech'.

With inputs from agencies