Tharoor’s praise for PM Modi earns Congress ire, party calls it ‘personal view’

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, on a day he attended the party’s working committee meeting, has once again earned the ire of the grand old party for his praise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Following Tharoor’s earlier remark that “celebrating the Prime Minister’s defeat is like celebrating India’s defeat,” Congress leader V Hanumantha Rao on Saturday (December 27) said that it was the MP’s personal opinion and not the party’s stand.

"We have democracy here, so everyone expresses their views. If another party made such statements, there would be swift action, but we have democracy here. This may be his thinking, but the party does not think that way...," Rao told ANI.

BJP lauds Tharoor’s courage

BJP, however, has already latched onto the issue with party spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla hailing Tharoor for his courageous statement, adding that he hopes that Congress does not take action against the MP.

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"Once again, Shashi Tharoor has shown the courage to show the mirror to Rahul Gandhi for all the propaganda he spreads against India. Dr Tharoor has rightly said that foreign policy doesn't belong to one party; it belongs to the nation,” said Poonawalla.

“I hope that they do not take some action against Tharoor. They may issue a fatwa against him because they cannot tolerate national interest above family interest," he added.

BJP takes a dig at Rahul

The BJP spokesperson took a swipe at Rahul Gandhi, alleging that the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha keeps family interest above party and the nation's interest, adding that he hates India.

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"This is a clear-cut message to Rahul Gandhi about his propaganda on Operation Sindoor, the surrender narrative to Prithviraj Chavan, and the entire Congress ecosystem... But Rahul Gandhi keeps family interest above party interest and the nation's interest because, in his hatred for the BJP, he hates India. He goes and spews venom against India...," he added.

Tharoor attends CWC meeting

Meanwhile, amid speculation over his strained equations with the party, Shashi Tharoor attended the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting held at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters at Indira Bhawan in New Delhi.

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The Thiruvananthapuram MP has recently been in the spotlight for skipping several party programmes while publicly praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address at the Ramnath Goenka Lecture.

The backdrop

Tharoor had earlier given the Congress’s ‘Vote Chor Gaddi Chhod’ rally at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan a miss, citing a prior overseas commitment. He was also absent from a meeting of Congress Lok Sabha MPs chaired by Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi.

Reports quoting party sources, however, stated that Tharoor had informed the leadership in advance about his unavailability. As per Tharoor’s posts on X, the MP was in Kolkata attending an event organised by the Prabha Khaitan Foundation.