Congress revokes Mani Shankar Aiyar's suspension from party

"Congress president Rahul Gandhi has approved the recommendations of the central disciplinary committee of AICC for revocation of suspension of Mani Shankar Aiyar from the primary membership of the Congress party with immediate effect," a statement issued by All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary in-charge of organisation Ashok Gehlot said.

Aiyar was suspended from the primary membership of the party on December 7 last year for his "neech aadmi" remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the eve of the Gujarat Assembly polls.

The suspension had followed an ultimatum given by Gandhi to Aiyar, asking him to apologise to the prime minister for the remarks.

"BJP and PM routinely use filthy language to attack the Congress party. The Congress has a different culture and heritage. I do not appreciate the tone and language used by Mr Mani Shankar Aiyer to address the PM. Both the Congress and I expect him to apologise for what he said (sic)," Gandhi had tweeted.

Aiyar had regretted his remarks, but not to the satisfaction of the top Congress leadership, which served him a show-cause notice thereafter.

Aiyar had courted controversy in the past too when he hosted a former Pakistani foreign minister and senior Congress leaders, including former prime minister Manmohan Singh, at his residence here ahead of the Gujarat polls.

The issue had become a major campaign point for the BJP with Modi personally raking it up.