Tharoor facing the music for ‘praising’ Modi

Chandy, Sudheeran, Chennithala to discuss action against Thiruvananthapuram MP today

The Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) is contemplating recommending strong action against Congress MP Shashi Tharoor for his statements ‘supporting’ Prime Minister Narendra Modi, including the latter’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, KPCC president V.M. Sudheeran, and Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala are meeting here on Wednesday to discuss the possibilities of taking action against Mr. Tharoor.

Confirming the decision to hold discussions, Mr. Sudheeran said that he did not want to approach the issue with a prior judgment, but the matter needs to be discussed in view of the general sentiments expressed by Congress workers. KPCC sources said it was for the All India Congress Committee to take action against Mr. Tharoor because of his profile as an MP. However, Congress leaders here are determined to give him maximum penalty for his “politically incorrect” statements.

Editorial lashing The Congress organ, Veekshanam , came out with a hard-hitting editorial against Mr. Tharoor, going to the extent of even suggesting that he may be planning to cross over to the Bharatiya Janata Party. It termed Mr. Modi’s UN speech and Gandhi Jayanthi programme as mere public relations exercise and an attempt to clean the cobwebs of his “sins.”

The editorial, however, did not openly name Mr. Tharoor and preferred to restrict itself to oblique references to him as “External Affairs Pundit.”

It took umbrage at the party spokesperson projecting himself as the epitome of impartiality, while hobnobbing with the likes of Mr. Modi through his Twitter handle.

Defence

Mr. Tharoor, meantime, made an attempt to correct his stand by stating that Mahatma Gandhi stood for not only physical cleanliness but also for cleanliness of mind, heart, soul, spirit.

“I therefore urge @PMOIndia to also work for an India cleansed of bigotry, hatred, intolerance & divisiveness, an India that is truly clean,” he said on his Facebook page.

The Communist Party of India, hit by a controversy over the selection of its candidate for the Thiruvananthapuram seat, issued a statement urging the Congress to suspend Mr. Tharoor. The statement, by its secretary K. Prakash Babu, said the Congress leaders should take this action if they were sincere about their statements against Mr. Tharoor.