Cong disowns Aiyar warning to UPA govt

Panchayati Raj Minister Mani Shanker Aiyar continues to draw flak for his comment that the UPA government has deviated from the path of serving the "aam admi''.

"The party does not agree with Aiyar's views," said Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natrajan.

Making it clear that the remark, on the eve of the third anniversary of the UPA government, had not gone well with the party leadership, Natrajan said, "The Congress believes that the 'aam admi' has remained a singular focus of the UPA government and it was wrong for anyone to even imply that it ('aam admi') was not the focus.''

Referring to Aiyar's remark that it was time alarm bells started ringing in the party, the Congress spokesperson said, "Nobody in the government or the Congress party is blind not to see these issues.'' She said the Congress itself had been raising the issues that affected the life of the "aam admi.''

Speaking for the government, Information and Broadcasting Minister PR Dasmunshi said Aiyar, as a panchayati raj minister, was himself aware as to how the government had worked for the local bodies at the village level.

Aiyar's remarks were earlier criticised by Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Singh Prasad, who questioned Aiyar's "authority to speak for the poor people.''