New Delhi, November 14: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor is back in the news and this time for his controversial statement about India's PM. According to a video, on the eve of Jawaharlal Nehru's birth anniversary, he said, "If today we have a chaiwala as prime minister, it is because Nehru Ji made it possible to create the institutional structures through which any Indian can aspire to rise to the highest office in the land." Jawaharlal Nehru Birth Anniversary: Lesser Known Facts & Rare Pictures of Chacha Nehru on Children's Day 2018.

The Congress leader further added, "We've seen a consorted campaign of vilification, of calumny, an astonishing amount of lies that are out there on the internet. Why is there this desire to undermine such a great son of India (Nehru), somebody who laid the foundations for what we have created?" According to reports, Tharoor highlighted that if today's government is able to boast about Mangalyaan, it is because of ISRP, that was set up by Nehru. Jawaharlal Nehru Birth Anniversary: 5 Inspirational Quotes by India’s First Prime Minister 'Chacha' Nehru.

BJP tweeted on the issue, taking a dig at Tharoor's statement-

Recently, BJP also criticised Tharoor for a comment that he made during the Bengaluru Literature Festival. Quoting an unnamed RSS source, Tharoor said, "PM Modi is like a scorpion sitting on a Shiva Linga. You can neither remove it with your hands, nor can you hit it with your slipper." Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar had first referred Narendra Modi as Chai-wala and not fit to be India's Prime Minister.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 14, 2018 10:20 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).