Shashi Tharoor lost his ministerial job during UPA-2 over a minor controversy related to cricket.
These days he is eyeing something big possibly related to Kerala politics. K C Venugopal is likely to be Rahul Gandhi's choice for chief ministership hence Tharoor is a bit annoyed. He applauded PM Narendra Modi and his handling of Operation Sindoor and was made a leader of a parliamentary delegation that went overseas to present New Delhi's version.
In the process of course, the Congress leadership was left red-faced.
Tharoor continued to embarrass Rahul Gandhi and his team.
Calling PM Modi's speech at the Ramnath Goenka Lecture of the Indian Express Group, "petty" Congress spokesperson Shrinate said she didn't understand what Congress MP Shashi Tharoor liked about it.
"I didn't find anything in the speech (of PM Modi) worth appreciating. I think the PM must answer a lot of things," Shrinate said.
The Congress distanced itself from Tharoor's praise of Modi's speech.
Shrinate's comments on how Tharoor perceived the speech of PM Narendra Modi came after the Kerala MP, in an X post, lauded the speech as "an economic outlook and a cultural call to action".
After the Ramnath Goenka Lecture of the Indian Express Group, Tharoor said he was "glad" to have been in the audience despite battling a bad cold and cough.
"PM Modi said he'd been accused of being in election mode all the time, but he was really in emotional mode to redress the problems of the people," Shashi Tharoor wrote on X.
The Congress MP specifically highlighted Modi's reference to Thomas Macaulay and the PM's call to Indians to rid the country of the mindset of slavery.
"A significant part of the speech was dedicated to overturning Macaulay's 200-year legacy of slave mentality. PM Modi appealed for a 10-year national mission to restore pride in India's heritage, languages, and knowledge systems," Tharoor added in his post.
As of now the BJP is enjoying every moment of Tharoor's outburst and mannerism against Congress. But it should be careful on two counts --
If the BJP thinks Tharoor should be "encouraged" to split Congress; in all likelihood the mission will fail. He is not a team man perse. Secondly, Tharoor cannot become a very good minister in the Modi cabinet in near future even if he jumps ship.
Left to him, as of now Tharoor wants himself to be obliged by the Congress leadership to expel him. This will ensure he continues as an MP as an 'unattached' member. As long as he is a Congress lawmaker -- he is guided by the Congress whip for voting and other parliamentary matters.
That's a major handicap and both Tharoor and the Congress leadership understand the intricacies. Even the BJP is not so naive.
The BJP has now launched a fierce attack on the Congress after the party distanced itself from MP Shashi Tharoor's praise of PM Narendra Modi's speech at the Ramnath Goenka Memorial Lecture.
BJP's spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala accused the Congress of attacking Tharoor and reminded it of an earlier instance when it had issued a "fatwa" (a decree or edict implying intolerance), when the Thirivananthapuram MP praised BJP veteran L K Advani.
Referring to the Congress as the "Indira Nazi Congress", Poonawalla said it couldn't tolerate anyone praising PM Modi or taking a stand for national interest over family interests. He recalled how Shashi Tharoor faced a "fatwa" from the party for previously praising LK Advani and writing against dynasty politics.
Hitting the Congress over intolerance, Poonawala said,
"Shashi Tharoor praises PM Modi's speech and predictably Congress attacks him. Last time he wished LK Advani ji and Congress issued Fatwa against him.
He wrote a piece on dynasty politics and was abused. Congress is INC, Indira Nazi Congress. It cannot tolerate anyone taking a stand that is in the national interest, not parivar OK interest".
ends
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