While the Congress last week sought to downplay party MP Shashi Tharoor’s acceptance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s invitation to be part of a select group of eminent personalities advocating the Clean India campaign, the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee’s insistence on some disciplinary action against him has put the central leadership in a bind.
With a depleted presence of just 44 members in the Lok Sabha, it would be difficult for the Congress leadership to meet the demand. But Mr. Tharoor’s detractors point out that this is not the first time he has crossed a red line. He has become a “habitual offender” as far as speaking his mind is concerned; right from his early days as a parliamentarian when he made the “cattle class” remark.
‘Hurt by KPCC allegations’
Responding to the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) decision to recommend ‘appropriate’ action for his statements supporting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Thiruvananthapuram MP Sashi Tharoor said he was hurt by the suggestion that he was eager to join the BJP.
Posting his views in Malayalam on his Facebook page, he said he did not find anything wrong in supporting the Clean India Campaign since it was basically a Congress programme. The relevant issue was whether the tenets of Gandhiji should be honoured and not one’s differences with the Prime Minister, he said.
In English he said, “Delighted to learn KPCC is preparing a ‘detailed report’. That means they might finally actually read what i wrote instead of oral summaries.”
KPCC president V.M. Sudheeran said, “We hope that the Congress High Command would take appropriate action.”
