A file image of senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
Senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar on Monday (February 16, 2026) said Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin stood the best chance of consolidating the anti-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) parties in the INDIA bloc to “help Rahul Gandhi assume the Prime Minister’s Office”.
Speaking to reporters in Thiruvananthapuram, he said Mr. Stalin had refrained from hurling epithets and coining pseudo-slogans such as “Vote Chori and Chowkidar Chor Hai”. Instead, he remained singularly focused on “every single point that is relevant to federalism in India”, Mr. Aiyar said.
He compared the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister to the iconic Congress leader late K. Kamaraj.
Mr. Aiyar described Mr. Stalin as a “person of great virtue,” adding that he would not stand in the way of Mr. Gandhi becoming Prime Minister.
During the interaction, the former Union Minister termed himself as an outlier in the Congress like Jawaharlal Nehru and Subash Chandra Bose.
“Both leaders rebelled against Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi made Nehru the Prime Minister. The Mahatma would have surely tapped Bose as President if the latter had not lost his life in the tragic air crash. In stark contrast, the current leadership seeks to isolate Gandhian truth tellers like me,” he added.
Explains stance
Mr. Aiyar quoted Dr. Ambedkar to explain his estrangement from the Congress. “I am not a part of the whole; I am a part apart,” he said and added that Mr. Gandhi had forgotten he was a member of the party. He further said that Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru and Rajiv Gandhi were inspirational leaders. “I am a Gandhian, a Nehruvian, a Rajivian, but not a Rahulian,” he said.
As a Gandhian, he was not afraid to speak truth, he claimed. “It was loathsome to associate with a leadership” which had no compunction in elevating someone like K.C. Venugopal (AICC general secretary-Organisation) to a post formerly held by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, and appointing Pawan Khera as the party’s national spokesperson, he said.
Published – February 17, 2026 01:34 am IST
