After facing flak from Congress for ‘praising’ Narendra Modi, Shashi Tharoor tweets to pacify party

NEW DELHI: Former Union minister and Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram Shashi Tharoor seemed to have tried to do a balancing act after being criticized by his party colleagues in Kerala for "praising" Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

On Monday, Tharoor, criticizing the Modi government, tweeted: "Deeply concerned by reports of 5 killed&50 injured in Pakistani shelling today.Over 100 ceasefire violations on LoC since BJP came to power!"

Earlier on Monday, Kerala Congress had asked Thiruvananthapuram MP to stop praising Modi.

Soon after Modi invited him to join the Clean India campaign, Tharoor tweeted: "Honoured to accept the invitation of PM @narendramodi to join Clean India campaign. Just landed in Bucharest &heard d news. Action on return."

Addressing reporters, the Congress's state vice-president and spokesman MM Hassan said Tharoor has been praising Modi for a while. "It's not just the October 2nd incident. Tharoor has been praising Modi to the hilt for some time now. Many Congressmen have still not understood what Modi has done to be praised so much," Hassan said.

Hassan's outburst can be seen as a warning to Tharoor.

Soornad Rajashekeran, another Congress vice-president, in a release issued in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday also pointed out that even though the party champions freedom of expression, Tharoor should immediately end praising Modi because many of Tharoor's statements go against the party's overall interest.

Reacting to his party colleagues' statements, Tharoor reacted through Facebook. He wrote: "I am astonished that anyone would suggest that I am pro-BJP. I have a 30-year paper trail of published writings on my idea of India and my profound belief in India's pluralism. Being receptive to specific statements or actions of BJP leaders does not remotely imply acceptance of the party's core Hindutva agenda. The Prime Minister pitched his appeal as a non-political one and I received it in that spirit. I am a proud Congressman and a proud Indian. In short: not pro-BJP, just pro-India!"

(With inputs from PTI)

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