Samajwadi leader Aggarwal issues clarification on tea seller remark

Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Agarwal on Thursday issued a clarification on his controversial tea seller remark on BJP prime ministerial candidate and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, saying that his words had been twisted out of context.

"My statement was misconstrued by the media. I apologise if my statement hurt the sentiments of the the poor, but I will not apologise to Narendra Modi," Agarwal said.

On Wednesday, Aggarwal had said in Hardoi that a person who used to sell tea cannot have a national perspective.

"Narendra Modi wants to become a PM. Someone rising from a tea shop can never have a national perspective. Like, if you make a 'sipahi' (constable) as 'kaptan' (Superintendent of Police) he can never have SP's approach but will have that of a constable," Agarwal had said controversially.

"As far as the crowd is concerned, a 'madari' (street performer) also gathers it," he said taking a swipe at BJP.

At his rallies, Modi has oftened recalled his humble origins, and taken potshots at the "elite" Gandhi-Nehru family.

He said people who are ruling at the Centre "don't know what poverty is all about, but I know it".

"I was born in a poor family, and have seen and lived in poverty. "I have sold tea at the railway station and in running trains ...those selling tea in trains know more about railways than the minister," Modi said at a recent rally in Patna.